Undead Daughter of Sin
by Gray28wolf08
Summary: Chosen Undead, Bearer of the Curse, Ashen One, she's been apart of this world since the beginning of convoluted time, that is until the daughter of Sin finally puts the world to rest by allowing the fire to fade ending her age, now she's awake once more ready to see what this new era has to give.
1. Knight Hunt

**Quick Disclaimer: I Don't own Dark Souls or Percy Jackson and the Olympians they belong to From Software and Rick Riordan respectively, this fanfiction is purely for entertainment reasons, because why not, right? With that out of the way, I'd like to mention that this fanfiction is the first I've written so, to be honest, any criticisms or advice is welcomed. Also, I don't plan on putting this disclaimer on any other chapters, it's here and here it will stay.**

 **a/n: due to the use of all 3 Dark Souls when I use an armor that's in more than 1 game I'll specify which game it's from, it'll probably be based more on appearance differentiations than stats (mostly because stats won't mean much, let's be honest here) but just so I can avoid confusion. I will also be taking some liberties with both magic in general and humanities/embers they won't be just like the game(s).**

Artemis was having a wonderful night, which was rather surprising considering her normally blasé attitude, yet why shouldn't she have such an enjoyable night, she was with her hunter's on the night of the full moon celebrating their time together, that is until they heard the howls of hellhounds echo through the forest.

"Hunters to arms, our hunt continues tonight!"

Within seconds all her hunters were armed and ready to follow her lead, and they were off following the monstrous noises with Artemis in the front, they rushed towards a clearing only to slide to a halt at the rather strange sight before them... Artemis hurried to hold her hunters back from this unknown, a Knight, in strangely contorted and burned armor complemented by red rags shedding ember like scraps from the cape, Artemis could even spot what seemed to be the knight's ribcage through or rather as a part of the armor.

What worried her slightly more was the pack of hellhounds surrounding the figure, so many that even her most experienced hunters might have hesitated to face the nine beasts surrounding this lone knight. 'Who even equips themselves like a knight anymore, especially in armor like that?' Artemis thought to herself.

Even as the first hellhound charges from the treeline looking to pounce on the knight, Artemis watched captivated by either outstanding bravery or unfathomable stupidity as the knight refused to move from its spot only to raise its hand at the last moment and release a surge of flames from their hand scorching the hellhound and burning it to death, at least that's what Artemis figured when the beast stopped moving even though it didn't explode into golden dust as it was supposed to, instead her keen eyes watched as wisps of some white, smoky, substance traveled from the dead monster to the unmoving figure, she didn't ignore how the hellhound slowly began to dissolve into its traditional golden dust after that however.

The knight began moving once more redrawing Artemis' attention as it backed up further into the clearing giving itself more space, raising its arm once more, to above its head and summoned flames once again to create a floating orb, that almost immediately began to launch its own flames at the stalking hellhounds, scorching their flesh wounding yet not killing them as the first flames did. Watching this Artemis couldn't help but wonder who this figure was.

'It? I can't even tell what gender it is! It must be a child of Hephaestus to have such control of fire.'

That theory was quickly debunked when three undamaged hellhounds leapt at the figure determined to tear through its armor, flesh, and bone before they were halted by the bolt of lightning the knight summoned and slammed into the ground killing two and wounding the third, its futile attempt at biting at the knight was ended when the warrior summoned a bow made of lightning releasing an arrow into the hounds gaping maw. This new revelation both stunned and scared Artemis, despite her outward appearance and stoic nature, she was honestly worried.

'Lightning! Oh, father what have you done now, but with fire as well, Hephaestus can't possibly be an option, that would only leave… No, I dare not finish that thought, she couldn't possibly have broken her oath, especially not to her younger brother of all people.'

The warrior wasn't done yet though, as it still had five hellhounds left to kill, Artemis could tell that her hunters while confused at the unfolding events were itching for a fight, and it was all she could do to hold them back wishing to see what else this knight was capable of.

Artemis was unsure of what to expect but control over a hellhound was not not something she imagined, when the figure pointed to one of the beasts its hand exuding a strange pink smoke before the targeted hound turned and tackled one of its former companions further reducing the number of the knight's assailants the final three beasts foolishly chose to attack in the same manner as their late packmates charging straight into a thrown orb of fire as it splashed across the face of one hound burning it so quickly it never got an opportunity to even shriek in pain the one beast closest to it did however as its left foreleg had been burned away in the pool of lava left in the wake of the explosive orb.

The knight rather obviously wasn't finished with the wounded beast however as it summoned a whip of fire and lashed it across the face of the limping hellhound ending its life, it turned on a dime to face the final hound turning with it as the beast attempted to circle the knight before realizing it was futile and it roared its frustration whilst charging towards its target the knight simply stepped to the side dodging the incompetent beast before summoning a new bolt of lightning this one far smaller and throwing it into the hounds rib cage, killing it.

With the hellhounds defeated Artemis wanted to speak with this knight though she wasn't sure what she could possibly say… her train of thought was ruined however when the knight turned to look directly at her before bowing almost mockingly, and then turning and walking away, Artemis was stunned but not enough to stop her from trying to chase after the knight, only to see the knight wave a… stick… and disappear into thin air, she could sense no aura, see no footprints, and could hear no unnatural sounds, the knight truly had disappeared, Artemis would not allow that to happen though as she commanded her hunters to search for any signs of the knight. She needed answers to questions and by her father, she would get them.


	2. Displaced in Time

Alaina could hear wind, even though she couldn't feel anything that simple fact was enough to set her on edge, as she opened her eyes she found herself staring up through the opening of some vibrantly green trees to see a wonderfully beautiful sky, not unlike the sky of Irithyll, star-strewn and streaked with clouds, it was almost surreal, and above all else a wonderful full moon shown in the sky… it was to bad that everything about this scene seemed horrifyingly wrong compared to what Alaina remembered, she had defeated the Soul of Cinder and with the Firekeeper's help allowed the fire to fade.

She had been in the Kiln at the time where the sky was dark, foreboding and grim, with fire from the dark sign streaking across it lighting up the clouds while simultaneously darkening everything around. In a panic she attempted to roll to her feet only to discover how difficult it was for her to even move, it felt like her very soul weighed more than the Ancient Dragon she had met in the Dragon Shrine, and yet she forced herself to rise, grunting in pain as she rolled over onto her stomach before pushing herself to her knees the entire time she fought the urge to scream in pain as every bone, muscle, and nerve shrieked in agony, yet with tremendous effort she rose to her feet, noticing the copious amounts of ash that fell from her body.

Struggling to stand she took her first step in what felt like an eon, and immediately fell to a knee with a growl of frustration she forced her body to obey and rose once again and stumbled to the nearest tree catching herself before her weakened legs betrayed her once more, turning she looked around her seeing the small hills worth of ash that remained from her awakening, only truly then realizing that she was not in the kiln or anywhere she recognized, that fact worried her far more than her newly discovered change in attire, she seemed to be wearing the armor that amalgamation of fire had been wearing, even though she wasn't entirely sure where it had come from or where her own set of Lothric Knight armor had gone, but that was not truly important enough to worry about at the time as she looked around and thought about her situation.

She could barely walk, she was lost, confused, disoriented, and weaponless in a completely unknown location… it was a wonderful start.

Alaina wasn't entirely sure what was wrong with her body, as moving even slightly caused her immeasurable pain and yet her paranoia won out as she forced herself from off the tree and back to her feet and half stumbled, half crawled her way back to her pile of ash 'claiming ownership over a pile of ash, I must be going hollow, or maybe just insane, it's hard to tell.'

As she reached it however she noticed a dull gleam almost covered by the ash, although she already seemed to know what it was even before her hand wrapped around the familiar hand-and-a-half hilt of her personal Lothric Knight sword she had torn from the limp hands of the first Lothric Knight she had slain, she wasn't really sure if she had found a more reliable weapon that could be considered basic on her journey, except maybe the Balder Side sword she had found.

Even as she thought that however she watched in fascination as the ash seemed to swirl and move forming a sheath for her blade which she then attached to her belt with one of her problems fixed she started to rise to leave before the ash surrounding her grabbed her attention once more, as if it had read the deep recesses of her mind it began to swirl once more, this time into something significantly larger as a chest seemed to form from the remaining ash, recognizing it as the bottomless box she had purchased so long ago from Andre, she opened it and peered into its endless void, simply thinking what she needed she pulled out one of her most prized possession the prized item of all Undead, her Estus Flask, only for her hopes to break apart just a little more when she discovered that her estus didn't fix the pains that wracked her body, still frustrated she pulled out a small satchel from the infinite depths of her chest and placed her flask into it after attaching it to her waist, then reaching in one last time she pulled out her old friend Logan's sorcery catalyst, finally finished she laid her hand on the chest and willed it to shrink, as expected it did and she picked it up and placed it in her satchel.

With that taken care of Alaina decided it was time she venture forth and see what this new land had in store for her, she hoped that through her adventuring she would discover what had happened after the fire had faded, she had already begun assuming that she had in fact ended her own era and had begun a new one only to be awoken as a part of this one as well.

She hadn't made much progress wandering, being forced to stumble around like a mindless hollow, but fortunately the pain flowing through her body had begun to fade ever so slightly over time, the moon was now directly overhead shining with a beautiful silver light, and yet despite how well things had been going Alaina had expected something to go poorly, her misfortune seemed to come in the form of nine large, dog-like beasts… she had been itching for a fight as it was, and following common savage dog stereotypes these beasts felt the need to howl to the stars, Alaina grinned feeling confident even in her weakened state that she would give these hounds a reason to whimper not howl, as they studied each other waiting to see who would make the first move, and by extension the first mistake.

Alaina could feel the malice from these dogs, so filled with rage and hatred not even at her, just everything seemed to fill these beasts with anger, but that didn't diminish her confidence even slightly she was too familiar with savage dogs and beasts several times taller than her to be cowed by some snarls, what did worry her slightly was when her instincts screamed at her to turn around and face the far more dangerous and unknown threat she could feel watching her from behind, she wasn't given any time to further think about it when the first beast charged towards, Alaina stood her ground before thrusting her hand out with a burst of flame from her Combustion scorching the hounds belly, it died without a sound, and Alaina felt the influx of souls from the beast, discovering that this era at least had that in common with her own what was significantly different however was when the hound began to break apart and dissolve into golden dust.

Alaina decided it might be beneficial to give herself more space as she backed up raising her hand above her head and summoning her inner flame again to create a Floating Chaos, which immediately began launching fire at the beasts burning and wounding yet unsurprisingly failing to kill, Alaina would never say it aloud yet she was impressed with the determination these mongrels were showing just to kill her. 'At least they're somewhat capable of learning, I would be disappointed otherwise.' She thought as three hounds leaped at her all from different angles, only to be halted by the Lightning Stake she had just slammed into the ground killing two, the third still attempted to bite her, she stopped that by summoning her bow of lightning and sending an arrow through its tongue ending its worthless life as well.

Alaina's attention was once again brought to whatever was behind as she heard shifting just beyond the treeline, but circumstances demanded that she ignore her stalkers until she had finished off the hounds before her, five still remained and she could feel her bones and muscles aching in displeasure at the strenuous actions she was making, she knew she could take them all on, but she didn't need to fight them all, and she definitely didn't want to, as she raised her right hand, pink smoke flowing from it and pointed at one of the dogs Rapporting it and forcing it to attack its once allies, with two more hounds taken care of she could focus her attention on the three beasts that had stalked around to her side before charging at her and directly into the Great Chaos Fire Orb she had just summoned and thrown at them the first to die didn't have time to make a sound as it had burned to death near instantly the second and only other one to be struck did in fact have time to scream when it survived the loss of its leg to the chaos lava left behind, Alaina ended it quickly summoning a Fire Whip lashing its face with ease, spinning to face the final hound that had tried to circle her, as she had spun she finally saw what had been hiding just beyond the treeline… Humans!

But that wasn't her primary concern the final beast was and it had gotten fed up with waiting, it lunged at her wanting so desperately to rend her flesh, she would have laughed at the pitiful attempt if she hadn't seen it happen hundreds of times in the past, so she simply side-stepped and summoned a basic Lightning Spear before casting it into the dog's side instantly killing it.

Alaina, now aware of what her stalkers were quickly spun to face them, noting their numbers and weaponry, before seeing one that looked far too confident to be a coincidence. 'The Leader, well I gave her a show, and that show is over.' She thought with smirk before bowing, then she turned and walked away summoning her Slumbering Dragoncrest ring, forming it from ashes and placing it on her finger silencing her movements, erasing her footprints, and hiding her aura, from everyone and everything thing, before pulling out Logan' catalyst and casting hidden body turning herself completely invisible, disappearing almost as if she no longer existed, she did, however, hear the girl speak in a commanding voice, probably wanting those other girls to track her down. Alaina was no slouch when it came to hide-and-seek, and she was well aware that she was the one hiding this time, she smiled as she ran further into the forest, excited at the prospect of not just living humans, but new places to explore.


	3. Goddesses

The sun was beginning to rise and the Chosen Undead was reaching the end of the treeline, she had found another clearing, this one seemed occupied by a stream, and while she was aware that those strange humans, she didn't expect to be found anytime soon due to their complete lack of information on her. She had left their presence while invisible and with her own presence hidden thanks to her Dragon ring, originally she had wanted to stop and take inventory and perhaps try and discover the reason for the pain that had been coursing through her body, even as she thought about she noticed how her adrenaline was wearing off and phantom pains began prickling in her extremities, Alaina wanted to take a minute break. Undead endurance or not if her body crippled itself in pain she can barely ignore nothing would end well for her, overconfidence in her own abilities had cost her life on more than one occasion, if she was unable to move the chances of those humans catching up and finding her would rise exponentially, with her mind made up Alaina gripped her helmet and tugged it off.

Holding it in her hands she examined it for the first proper time almost immediately noting its lack of a crown, unlike its predecessor. She didn't really care however as she willed it to dissolve into ash, completing the process again with her gauntlets armor, leggings, and greaves, walking over to the stream and peering in, she came face to face with a hollow, if her eyeless sockets were capable of portraying emotion they would have shown surprise simply at her being hollow, being undead she obviously shouldn't be surprised but even still no good would come from arguing with how things turned out, swiftly she reached into her satchel and pulled out a series of items, a twin humanity, a purging stone, and an ember, crushing all three she felt life seep through her body. She watched in glee as her face fleshed out on her small head, her heterochromatic eyes grew into place and her straight white hair grew out color flowing through it. Alaina gasped breathing in oxygen for the first time since her awakening, the pain in her body dulled tremendously to her relief. She wasn't finished however as she stripped herself down the rest of the way and waded into the stream and began scrubbing herself down as fast and well as she could. The now human was very quickly interrupted however when she felt a presence to her left.

Turning she found a small slightly blue-skinned girl staring at her with rapt attention, despite Alaina's surprise she jolted out of her reverie and lunged across the stream tearing her sword from its sheath having seen it was closer to her than the girl was and placing the tip against the girls throat, her threat was more than obvious.

"Wh- wh- whoo arrre yoou?" Alaina growled out only then realizing that she hadn't spoken in what felt like months even when she was actually alive, she had no real idea on how long she had been lying dormant for, her voice sounded like she had been gargling prism stones. The small girl was surprisingly calm despite having a sword to her throat, she seemed confused at the growling sound that had emanated from her assailant, so Alaina tried again after clearing her throat as best she could. "I said, who are you?" She was in luck as she was actually capable of proper speech this time despite her voice being deep and husky, so deep she worried she would have to repeat herself again, fortunately, the girl understood and replied.

"Who am I, you're the one in my stream, I should be asking you who you are, or more accurately what you are, you just changed from looking like a rotting corpse."

The reply was swift and somewhat harsh. "That's not important, I'll be leaving shortly and we won't be seeing each other again." Alaina croaked out while pulling her sword away and sheathing it before stepping out of the stream and summoning the first form of clothing she unconsciously thought of, marching out of the clearing, leaving a very confused little girl who only shook her head and sunk back into the stream.

Alaina had just finished pulling on the second glove of her Black Leather Set(2) when she realized she had barely gone 20 feet from the clearing her thoughts still based around that strange little girl, Alaina quickly shook her head clearing her thoughts before summoning her Hunter's Blackbow and an Astoran Straight sword to replace her Lothric sword, as she continued on her way.

* * *

Artemis was not amused, a mere mortal had escaped not just her hunters but the goddess on the hunt herself, at least she assumed the strange knight was mortal, she wasn't infuriated however as one might have expected from a personality like hers, no Artemis was filled with an inner glee, for she relished a good challenge and while she had sent her hunters out in an attempt to find some sign of the knight, she wanted to be the one to find it.

They had been searching since the knight had disappeared, Zoe had assumed that the knight was a male, and while Artemis wanted to agree with her Lieutenant she wasn't so sure, despite how much easier it would make disliking the knight she wanted to know for certain, Her thoughts were interrupted however when one of her hunters alerted her that they had found Phoebe and two others unconscious along the path they had been searching. Springing into a run Artemis followed her hunter to Phoebe's location where they discovered two others nursing over a conscious Phoebe while the Hunter in question was rubbing her head in obvious pain.

"Go care for the others." The two healers responded with silent nods and stepped away.

"Phoebe, what happened?"

"We were attacked my lady, there was a figure in black clothing that struck Sarah, and Nefeli over the head with a tree branch I had no time to react before I was struck in the stomach and swiftly knocked senseless." She replied unsteadily.

Artemis mulled it over in her head before replying. "Black clothing… so not the knight from before?"

There was a pause as Phoebe answered. "The figure had a sword on their waist and a bow on their back, their face was shadowed by a hood, but no they were not wearing the armor of the knight."

Artemis nodded her head in thanks before looking upon the ground and spotting a set of tracks… tracks of similar size if different shape from the knight's last knight at least the ones made during its escapade with the hellhounds. With no better option available Artemis followed the tracks following them through the forest and eventually to yet another pair of senseless hunters, something was obviously taking her hunters down and yet it was incapacitating not killing, Artemis needed to find out who or what it was before her hunters were all but taken out, grabbing her horn from her hip she blew several low quarter notes signaling for her hunters to come to her location and recover the fallen hunters, with that done Artemis raced off in pursuit of her hunters assaulter, with a nagging thought in the back of her mind that if her theory was correct and the knight and black-figure Phoebe had described were connected her target was making it far to easy to find her, almost as if it

wanted to be found.

* * *

The Curse Bearer, smirked as her plan worked just as she expected it to the leader of this group of humans was concerned over the safety of her followers and while none were killed or even truly injured she couldn't take any chances as she hunted Alaina down alone discovering her in the small clearing she had chosen to use for her needs whether this turned violent or diplomatic she was more than ready as she had been talking aloud to her self attempting to awaken her long forgotten voice. So far her voice had made no improvements in sound or tone, but she had been able to articulate better so it was something. As the human ran into the clearing and came face to face with Alaina, she couldn't not notice how young the human was, despite that no one knew more than her that looks could be deceiving, she figured she would allow the newcomer to speak first, and she was not kept waiting as she received a glare sharp enough it could've pierced through Havel's shield.

"Are you the one who's been attacking my hunters?" Alaina nodded in response but before she could vocalize her response she was asked another question. "And are you connected to the knight from last night?" Another nod was her reply but this time Alaina asked her own question in her deep raspy voice.

"Your hunters? Are they followers or companions?"

"They are both!" Artemis' reply was sharp and sudden, with the Undead's being equally sharp filled almost with disgust at the question she asked.

"Are you a goddess then?" The question seemed to catch the girl off guard before she nodded her head silently, Alaina's response probably couldn't have been more threatening if she tried as she pulled her sword from its sheath dragging a Gold Pine bundle she had hidden in her off-hand across it in the same action before pointing her sword at the small child, while almost growling out her second question leaving no room for confusion for what she desired. "What is your name, and what are your domains!?"

Artemis clearly stunned at both the threat and question drew her own sword from her hip, noticing the differences between her own celestial bronze blade and the seemingly steel sword the figure held, assured in her bold assumption that a mere mortal weapon wouldn't be able to harm her she replied almost mockingly.

"And why should I answer such a question, to someone like you?"

"So I may cross your name off of my list." The Undead retorted.

"Fine I shall humor you, human I am Artemis goddess of the Hunt, Wilderness, Moon, Archery, and Childbirth!" The goddess stated with anger layering her voice. Smirking at the sight of Alaina's clear confusion, that is until the Ashen One replied indirectly, speaking aloud to herself.

"Another one did the Lord of Sunlight have another child born under the moon, I have never heard of your name, are you another secret child of the Sun?" Alaina herself was confused with her question thinking it impossible that her mother wouldn't know about another child of Gwyn, but anything was possible she supposed.

Artemis looked almost enraged at the sheer audacity of the question. "No you idiotic mortal, I am his brother we were twins, he was the god of Music, Prophecy, Archery, the Sun, and Healing!"

Alaina was stunned at that information as she lowered her sword the lightning arcing across it dying down, she was completely speechless, she had done it, her era of time was over the cycles had ended the fire had faded, risen again and created a new era, that she was now apart of, it may have had new gods and goddesses but she didn't care her duties as an Undead were truly over… at least in her own era.

"So, you have no connection to Gwyn the first Lord of Sunlight whatsoever?" She asked skeptically.

Artemis confused about the turn of events answered truthfully. "No, I've never heard of such a name before now, even still while you may hold no transgressions against me, you attacked my hunters and it is my duty to avenge their honor!" She finished with a shout as she lunged at Alaina wishing to avenge her followers.

Alaina had been expecting such a move at some point which was why she had never sheathed her blade, only lowered it and so she did what she always did at the beginning of a fight with an unknown… she rolled, rolling into a backward somersault she dodged the vertical slash that seemed to have been aimed to knock her blade from her hand, she quickly deduced that this "goddess" desired to incapacitate not kill, yet she figured that with enough of a fight that would change rather quickly and so she dodged another strike, sidestepping a thrust that had more speed than Friede, and that was rather concerning.

Shaking her head to clear her head knowing now was no time for idle thoughts she parried a diagonal slash aimed for her hip before stepping inside Artemis' guard before she could strike the goddess flipped into a backward handspring kicking Alaina in the stomach as she did so, the attack while meant to knock the air out of her lungs had no effect on the undead and she charged forward catching Artemis off guard and forcing her to dodge the blade aimed for her shoulder, sweeping her leg out in an attempt to knock the Undead off her feet whilst completing her dodge forcing Alaina to spring away as well.

She couldn't help herself as she marveled at the grace and beauty in this small girls fighting style, she was truly impressed, but she wouldn't let that get in the way of her showing this goddess just how outmatched she was feinting a horizontal blow to Artemis' right side before twisting her wrist and slashing upwards from her knee only to feint that strike as well throwing a sharp punch into the goddess' jaw snapping her head back and following up with a shoulder to the smaller girls chest sending her sprawling, she didn't move forward however as the girl had gotten to her feet just as fast as she had been taken off them drawing a silver knife as she did, Artemis glared at Alaina before throwing her knife at the undead forcing her to duck and then roll to the side as a sword nearly cut her arm off only to receive a kick to the knee and an uppercut to the chin sending her flying across the clearing, staying on the ground until the last moment before succeeding where the goddess had failed and sweeping her legs out from under her swinging her sword up as she did, dragging it across the goddess' stomach cutting deep yet clean causing the goddess to cry out in pain, the golden ichor a strange surprise to Alaina as she scrambled to her feet before slamming her foot down upon the girl's chest and trying for a second before the goddess recovered and grabbed her foot pulling her off balance and causing her to fall again.

Alaina knew what to do however and aimed to land on top of the goddess causing her to grunt before the girl moved her legs under the Undead before heaving and sending Alaina flying off her. With both combatants rising to their feet Alaina summoned a Target Shield(1) and readied her sword once more.

* * *

Artemis was surprised, this human may have been mortal but there was far more going on here than just that, the simple fact that the human had drawn her ichor would've been enough to attest to that, but the skill it possessed was something well beyond a simple demigod.

She smiled in joy at the idea of a proper challenge and while she loathed to admit it, had the fight been to first blood she would've lost, the wound itself had already disappeared but her pride had taken most of the damage anyway, recovering her weapons she nodded her head respectfully to her opponent, receiving one in turn before battle was joined once more.


	4. Mortals

The goddess of the hunt hadn't taken the time to truly inspect her opponent during their earlier duel, and so she felt it would behoove her to do so with the human pinned to the ground, it was during her inspection that she realized her opponent was, in fact, a female, her face was still obscured in the shadow of her hood however and Artemis could make out no details other than the fact it was rapidly approaching, and then it hit her, before reeling back and slamming into her face again and then for a third time this time with a significant response from Artemis as she finally staggered back off the human her nose bleeding yet unbroken.

* * *

Alaina's skull was pounding it felt like she had been hit in the head several times in rapid succession by Havel the Rock, yet her gamble had paid off and she was no longer pinned to the ground.

Her opponent, however, seemed to recover from the attack far faster than the Undead did, for she was already attacking her again. The only difference was it seemed the goddess of archery was taking initiative and summoned her bow along with an arrow before firing at the dazed Undead.

Even dazed as she was Alaina's reaction speed was nothing to scoff at as she sidestepped the arrow, before ducking beneath another, and rolling into a forward somersault and lunging from her lowered position and tackling the goddess with as much force as she could muster, and in their tumble she found herself at a disadvantage once more as Artemis took her bow and pulled it against her throat attempting and inevitably failing to choke her out even despite that Alaina discovered she couldn't find any leverage to push the goddess away from her, she may not have been getting choked out, but the position she was trapped in was not ideal.

* * *

Under other circumstances, Artemis would have respected such determination to win from anyone even a male, but right now after the fight they've had she was beginning to lose her patience with this human.

She just wanted this fight to end, and even with her bow pulled against the girl's throat she was still thrashing about trying to throw her off, it was as if she wasn't choking at all.

Until she finally stopped thrashing and instead placed her hand against her chest before pulling it away covered in fire and slamming it into the ground beside her.

Artemis leapt away as a pillar of fire erupted from the ground beneath her, but it wasn't done as more pillars erupted one of which struck her in the side making her stumble away into another, the feeling of fire slamming into her chest with the force of a hammer, caused her to gasp as she continued to maneuver around the other pillars of fire.

With the attack over Artemis slid to a stop and turned only to receive a bolt of lightning slamming into her shoulder, forcing her to spin from the force alone, the electrical shock dimming her vision. To her credit however, she only grunted in pain from the attack.

Artemis continued with the spin however recovering quickly, her eyes fell upon the subject of her ire. The female she had been fighting didn't even seem to be breathing heavily from her actions, she just stood there, waiting for Artemis to make a move.

For the first time since the beginning of the fight Artemis examined the surrounding area, she noted the state of the tree she had thrown the girl into smashing it into splinters, the small boulder that had been cleaved in half by a blow from the humans sword, and she wondered whether or not it was worth continuing this fight, her thoughts were interrupted however when she felt a knife sink into her shoulder.

Springing back into action Artemis summoned her sword and cut a second knife out of the air, before knocking a third to the side as she ran at the girl, slashing horizontally at her neck, missing but catching her in her duck with a kick to the face before grabbing the girl by the throat and slamming her to the ground.

She wasn't done though and filled with an anger she hadn't felt in ages, she grabbed the girl again by the back of the head and slammed her face into another small boulder, pulling back and slamming forward again. And again. And again, until to her surprise, the rock gave way, breaking apart before the human did.

Releasing the girl and allowing her to slump to the ground, Artemis backed away taking note that the girls blood was in fact red, before to her disbelief the girl rose unsteadily to her feet, blood pouring from her shadowed face, before pulling a flask filled with an orange liquid out of the pouch on her side and bringing it to where her lips would be beneath the mask and swallowing some? Stopping the bleeding.

It was at that moment as well that Artemis felt something emanating from the girl, no… from herself but she felt it because of the girl, she felt guilty, not just for what she had done to the girl, but for all the terrible or morally questionable things she'd done in her immortal life.

Artemis felt overwhelmed, she felt so desperate for the need to beg this girl for forgiveness just to make it stop, but she reigned those feelings in, if only just barely. Settling for a different approach.

"What are you?" Artemis nearly shrieked at the girl, the answer she received wasn't one she expected and it scared her.

"I'm like you, but quite… different." The girl didn't seem to be finished however as she seemed to mull over a proper way to answer, she didn't seem to be able to come up with a better one.

"Who are you then? I must know!" Artemis cried out attempting to calm the situation. The response she received didn't help in that venture.

"Unimportant… are you finished speaking, I didn't begin this fight, but I'll finish it." The girl seemed to growl it out even more so than with just her husky voice.

"No, we must stop this, it's over. Please." Artemis replied, and while she would never admit it aloud, she could tell this girl was, not only better at combat than her but judging by what Artemis was feeling more powerful as well.

The girl snorted but nodded, choosing not to reply as she walked over to her abandoned blade and shield before sheathing the sword and dissolving the shield into ash, turning back to face Artemis she inclined her hand telling her to lead.

* * *

As Artemis entered the camp her hunters had set up in her absence, she realized that she hadn't told them she was bringing back the very same person who had incapacitated half a dozen of them, and they probably wouldn't be happy to see this new arrival.

The girl herself didn't seem to care as she walked into the camp, standing tall, idly looking around the campsite receiving glares from nearly all of the hunters.

"I will explain recent events to you all soon I promise, please be patient," Artemis called out to her hunters quickly in an attempt to keep their aggression at bay, as she power walked to her tent and motioned for the girl to enter, fortunately, the girl had some tact and entered quickly.

Entering behind her Artemis motioned for the girl to sit as she did the same asking the first of what would be many questions from both sides, only she didn't get to as the girl beat her to it.

"You said your name was Artemis, and you said how you are a goddess and that you have a brother, the more important question is who is your brother?" After a pause, she continued, "I must meet him, you said he was the god of the sun, unfortunately, I have had bad interactions with Lords of Sunlight, and I must make sure my suspicions are false."

Artemis was speechless, this self-proclaimed goddess who wouldn't even tell her her name and had the red blood of mortals was demanding things of her, an Olympian, this wouldn't stand.

"Now you listen here mortal, you should–!" As she was cut off sharply.

"After our little brawl, you still think I'm a mortal… ha, you don't seem to understand I don't care what you think about me based on my blood versus your blood, and I wasn't asking to see your brother!" Alaina's cut-in left absolutely no room for misunderstanding or disagreement, and she certainly caught Artemis off guard, for she had no response available as her mouth opened and closed like a fish.

After several long moments, Artemis finally chose to reply, complying with the girl's wishes.

"Very well, I will contact my brother for you to speak with on one condition… you tell me just who you are." Artemis felt that a trade might be appropriate for this interaction.

"If that's what you want, my name is Alaina Vice." She accentuated her statement by pulling both her mask and hood down and staring into Artemis' silver eyes with her own gray and blue eyes.

"You said you were a goddess, or at least Immortal, what did you mean?" Artemis asked, looking for another straight answer in the young woman's face.

"That wasn't the question. You said you would contact your brother if I told you who I was." The moment Alaina finished her response she thought about it, before coming to the conclusion that Artemis' second question did, in fact, lay in the boundaries of her first and she continued, "Even still I told you who I was and that's all you need to know right now."

"I disagree I think you owe me that much before I do what you asked of me," Artemis smirked as she looked upon Alaina's face, and with a huff, Alaina replied almost whispering her response.

"I was a goddess until I was cursed to be mortal and died before coming back, now I am as close to being a goddess as you can get without truly being one anymore." With that said Artemis wasn't sure how to respond to such a claim, so she chose to simply give her condolences and move on.

"I see, I'm sorry I'll contact my brother now." The only response she got was a small nod of gratitude, as she stepped outside, and began trying to get her brother to come by.

Her thoughts lingered however on the young woman in her tent as she wondered just what it would be like to live as she did, to be a goddess and get that stripped away, only to come back and not get to be a goddess again. If only she knew the full story.


	5. Reveals and Revelations

Zoë wasn't terribly happy with recent events, her lady had rushed off without her to chase after the hunters' assailant, only to bring the person back with her, barely casting her attention on the hunters as she rushed into her tent.

While she knew better than to rush into her lady's tent demanding answers her already short patience was wearing thin, they had been in Artemis' tent for several minutes before Artemis finally came out, only to continue to ignore the imploring looks her hunters were giving her.

Zoë wanted so badly to storm over to Artemis but she held herself back, she wasn't sure her presence would be welcome right now, so she chose to wait a little longer. It seemed that luck was in her favor as the real reason for her anger also stepped out of the tent.

Inspecting her target Zoë discovered that she was a female which in turn caused her anger to abate slightly.

"Perhaps my lady invited her to the hunt, and that's why it took so long." Even as that stray thought crossed her mind Zoë knew that wasn't what had happened, and so she chose to follow the girl over to the gathered hunters.

With the glares the girl was being given it was clear she wasn't being received well, yet with her face shadowed by her hood it was impossible for Zoë to tell whether or not the girl cared as she continued to march through the camp before coming across a hunter she seemed to recognize, seeing it was Phoebe Zoë darted over not catching what the girl had said, yet deciphering what it must've been from Phoebe's response.

"Wouldn't have had to, if you hadn't attacked us." surprisingly calm for the situation.

"My actions were necessary whether you think so or not, yet it's possible I was too aggressive." The girl unintentionally growled back with a shrug.

Phoebe in a forgiving mood shrugged back and started up again.

"It's fine…" she paused only to be interrupted by Zoë

"No! It's not fine! She attacked the hunters without provocation." Zoë wasn't sure what was going through her fellow hunter's mind to think such actions were acceptable for interactions.

"Zoë we've done the same thing to others on suspicions alone, we were tracking her as it was." Phoebe couldn't stop herself from spilling her feelings on the recent events, she suspected it might have something with their silent company.

Zoë knew Phoebe was right even as she thought that she felt her crimes and affronts resurfacing from memories centuries old, she couldn't control herself as tears began to fall from her eyes, she wanted to ask, beg even for forgiveness but she held herself back, this girl must've been doing this to them.

"Thou need to stop this madness, what are thou doing to us!" Zoë nearly cried out, only for the girl to stay silent as she cocked her head at the two of them, but fortunately, Zoë felt her head clear if only slightly as her emotions died down. With that Phoebe decided to fix the problem her own way… by punching the girl in the face.

Zoë couldn't help but laugh as she watched the girls head snap back, but she cut herself off with a choke when the girl snapped around to stare at the two of them, even with her shadowed face she could feel her staring into her soul, she didn't realize how true that actually was.

"Perhaps we should start over before this continues." The girl announced.

"I agree, but first." Phoebe chose to punch her again in the stomach, before continuing. "I'm Phoebe, that was for knocking me out earlier, but otherwise it's nice to meet another maiden." Zoë was surprised the girl didn't make a sound when Phoebe struck her and she barely wavered.

"I am Zoë, Lieutenant to Artemis. Who are thou fair maiden, I would like to be one of the first to meet our new fellow hunter." Zoë introduced.

"You misunderstand I am not joining your family of hunters, I am simply attempting to apologize for my rather aggressive introduction, despite that I am Alaina." After a short pause she picked up again. "and I'm simply waiting until Artemis' brother shows up, I need to speak with him."

"Did she ask thee to join the hunt Alaina," Zoë questioned her with a hint of concern.

"No it was never brought up, and I wouldn't have accepted anyway, I have a poor history with past cults and guilds." Alaina's response was rather on the nose, as Zoë thought about it before connecting the dots and without realizing it parroted her lady from hours earlier.

"So… are thou connected to the knight from last night?"

"Your sword's sheath is a different shape to the knight's yet, that doesn't mean you can't know about him," Phoebe added as well, her curiosity piqued with her friend's question.

Neither of their questions were answered however when a flash of light appeared above the trees with a blast of warmth, it seemed her lady's brother had arrived.

* * *

Alaina didn't really care about whether she answered the two girls questions, she simply wanted to try and get to know them, and she found out the red-haired one wasn't terribly happy with her if the two punches she received were anything to go by, in truth they didn't hurt but she had definitely felt them.

All that aside however she was secretly glad that their attention was finally diverted and she could begin to get to the bottom of this deific mystery. The so-called god of the sun had arrived and she wanted to compare him to what she had come to expect from her past.

Pulling down her mask and hood Alaina moved briskly towards where the god had arrived, it was then that she noticed how different he looked in comparison to his supposed twin.

Neither he nor his sister seemed to notice her presence as they seemed deep in conversation that turned out to be unimportant when she heard them bickering over something as trivial as age.

"You are not older Apollo, I was born first!" Artemis nearly snarled out.

"Come on sis, now's not the time for this, the girl you were telling me about is coming over," Apollo said noticing Alaina standing behind his sister, looking up to address her.

"So, Alaina my sister has explained how you wanted to speak to me." Suddenly Apollo seemed deadly serious as he glared at the girl his attention fully invested in her. "She didn't explain exactly why though perhaps you can tell me why it's so important that you speak with me that you disrespect my sister." He continued as his glare deepened.

"I was told you are the god of the sun, I needed to know more, my past interactions with gods of the sun haven't gone well." Alaina replied undeterred by his glare, she had seen far worse after all.

"Who Helios? He hasn't been around for centuries." Apollo glare changed so quickly to a quizzical look Alaina figured the glare had simply been a front, to her surprise he was corrected by Artemis before Alaina could reply.

"Or she could be referring to Gwyn the 'Lord' of Sunlight I told you about before you got here." the only response she got was an appreciative nod from the tall girl.

"So Gwyn is the god of the sun, and your relationship with him didn't go well, I can assure you I am not him."

"Was not is, he is dead slain by my hand, he was the king, I don't know how much time has passed since I ended my age, or what relations gods of this time could still have to my own, as I was not able to kill his whole family." That particular piece of information unsettled both of the Olympians, as the two of them stepped away to speak in private.

Moving far enough way that Alaina was unable to hear their conversation as they discussed what they might do with her. Enveloped in her own thoughts Alaina didn't realize that several minutes had already passed and the twins were coming back.

Apollo looked determined to not show how nervous he was, as he looked Alaina in the eyes and requested she walk with him… alone.

"Alaina perhaps we can assuage each other's desires for information, being the god of prophecy can have some benefits after all."

Alaina made her distrust in Apollo clear as she glared at him for his suggestion, the problem was that she wasn't really in a position to refuse his offer, following him through the trees she noticed the uncomfortable look Artemis was giving the two of them.

They reached Apollo's "chariot" in no time only for Alaina to stop dead in her tracks at the sight of the metal machine, her sudden stop drew Apollo's attention and as he looked between Alaina and the Maserati he smiled before explaining the vehicle to her.

"This is a car it's basically a very advanced carriage, it doesn't require horses to pull it and it can go a lot faster." His explanation didn't really clear much up for Alaina but she got the idea and decided to humor him by nodding that she understood.

Apollo was at least kind enough to help her in her plight by opening the door and gesturing for her to sit before sliding in himself and starting the engine, grinning gleefully at how uncomfortable the previously stoic girl was when she heard the car start, to Alaina's credit however she stayed silent despite her anxiety, it wasn't long until they had taken off and were flying through the sky.

It wasn't until they had been flying for a few minutes that Apollo spoke, trying to avoid hostilities he started with an ice breaker.

"I see that you are enjoying yourself while in the air, is there any particular reason for that?"

"Yes, it's wonderful being back in the sky it was very liberating, it made me feel so free." Apollo gave her a quizzical look at her response, looking for clarification he questioned her to chagrin.

"Was, what does that mean?"

"It means what it sounds like it meant, was as in past tense." Alaina snarled at his jab into her privacy, before changing the subject. "I assume you did not distress your sister and drag me along in your strange autonomous carriage simply because you felt like it." Apollo stared at her face studying the few scars that marred it before wisely cooperating with her subject change.

"Yes, I wanted to discuss your story more privately as I finish with my chariot duties." Alaina wasn't surprised by his statement, in fact, she expected it, deciding to humor him long enough to learn more about this new age.

"I will begin with what I am as I assume that is what you are the most concerned with, I was once a goddess my mother created me alone, until I was cursed with undeath, the royal family fearing the possibility of the curse spreading stripped me of my deific status turning me human, and carted me off to the undead asylum where I was saved by a knight who told me of a saying that had been passed down in his family, with my new knowledge or goal rather and a definite lack of deific abilities I struck out on a journey for vengeance and fate, using the souls of my defeated enemies to empower myself so that once I found the gods who threw me aside I could kill them." Alaina sighed as she finished her short explanation.

Apollo quick on the uptake, as usual, kept her talking "What did that knight tell you?"

"Oscar was the knight's name and in his last moments told me of an old saying his family had. Thou who art Undead, art chosen in thine exodus from the asylum, maketh pilgrimage to the land of Ancient Lords… when thou ringeth the Bell of Awakening, the fate of the Undead thou shalt know. The prophecy didn't ever get much clearer from there."

Apollo was stupefied by the information he just received and only stared at Alaina as he thought of something to say before he could think of anything to say Alaina dropped another bomb on him.

"I've had time to think about my situation, I've come to realize this is a different era, not just an age you, your sister and her hunters are nothing like the people of my era, I woke up and I wasn't in the kiln where I should have been." She explained blandly as if she were describing the weather.

Apollo did his best to piece it together as best he could but in the end, he asked her to clarify. "Wait, wait, wait… ages and eras, kilns, Bells of Awakening, your prophecy didn't even rhyme." That final statement got a proper response out of Alaina in the form of an absolutely dumbfounded expression.

"That's one of your primary worries, that one of the prophecies of my land didn't rhyme… unbelievable." Shaking her head in annoyance, Alaina began to understand Artemis' plight when it came to being around Apollo, regardless of that she continued to explain herself. "The kiln that I mentioned was the kiln of the First Flame, where the Lords found their souls giving them their godlike powers, one of which led to the creation of humanity."

"So you are from a different Pantheon, but eras and ages, how old is your pantheon?" Alaina didn't respond to that question though as her attention was drawn away by the appearance of a city, so large and magnificent it made Anor Londo look like the Undead Settlement.

Apollo couldn't keep the grin off his face at her reaction. "That city is called New York City, and down there is Long Island…" He didn't get to finish though as Alaina interrupted him.

"Humanity has improved so much since I last dealt with them, how did they manage something like this?"

"Well, when the Titan Prometheus stole fire for humanity from… a… kiln… that improved humanity beyond what was ever imagined." Even as Apollo said it, it dawned on him just how coincidental it all seemed, and as he stared at the girl next to him he realized she was telling the truth.

"I'm intimately familiar with the fire you speak of, as for how old my pantheon is, it came into being almost immediately after the discovery of the first flame which gave the Lords their souls which they then used to kill the ancient dragons."Alaina continued staring at the human city filled with wonder.

Alaina just continued explaining what she felt was needed. "Thus began the Age of Fire, and as the fire began to fade and the Age of Dark crept in Gwyn, idiotic old bastard he was fearing the dark, sacrificed himself using his soul as fuel to continue the Age of Fire, and even with his sacrifice the fire began to fade once more and so it became the mission of the newly cursed undead to strengthen their souls enough to refresh the Age of fire for another series of centuries."

"The cycle continued until 'something' changed, where in a desperate act to end the undead curse again hopefully more permanently I searched for the Throne of Want, where I was given a choice, while I had no love for the gods and their age I had no desire to become the true ruler of men, and so I made the choice to link the fire once more, and even then I still wasn't done."

"For a new age had begun, and unlike others, I was called forth from the grave as I had already succeeded twice before… only I had finally given up hope for the Age of Fire and with some help I let the fire fade ending the Age of Fire while and apparently beginning the Age of Man… it seems the fire sparked back into existence if humanity is capable of things like this."

Finishing her story Alaina sighed wiping her hand against her face finding she had shed a more than a few tears.

* * *

Apollo didn't say anything for what could he say to the girl next to him, who had apparently been through more than any being in Greek Mythology, if what she said was true and her story wasn't the ramblings of a psychotic, she was older than the primordials, and possibly stronger too.

Remaining in silence for several minutes neither of the car's occupants bothered trying to continue the conversation, Apollo decided he would finish his rounds later if at all, considering he didn't really need to be in the car for it to drive the sun around.

He noticed that Alaina had a horribly forlorn look on her face, simply staring into the sky, either unaware or uncaring of the changing environment as Apollo brought her back to his sister's camp, having already explained what he could to her, he figured Artemis would be able to care for the girl until she had recovered enough from her emotional break down about an hour ago, or maybe Artemis wouldn't be able to help, only time would tell, after all both the twins agreed it wouldn't be a good idea to bring her to Olympus just yet.


	6. Day in the City

**Firesa: You're welcome, here's another one.**

 **Jebest4781: Thanks I'll try to keep it fun and interesting. The city day, was really frustrating I had to rewrite it like 4 times.**

 **VGBlackwing: While that's true, she (Alaina) doesn't know what will happen if she dies, there are no "bonfires" anymore, and her "era" is over, the first flame no longer fades and no longer needs to be relit, it is apart of humanity now, so rather than die and come back she's far more resilient than what could be considered "normal" for an undead goddess anyway, and don't worry, she has a lot of darkness welling up inside her, it's rated M for a reason we just haven't gotten there yet.**

Alaina would never admit it aloud but despite the rather violent first impression she made to Artemis and her hunters, she was beginning to enjoy her time with them, despite knowing she shouldn't, making friends never ended well for anybody when the Ashen One or even worse Chosen Undead was involved.

It must've been a cold day in Izalith that she was beginning to sympathize with Patches for having nothing hold him back, to be unbound, yet she just couldn't do it. Their caring mannerisms about her more significant quirks over the last several days were rather endearing… or they would be if she wasn't getting yelled at for them.

"Eat something gods dammit… you haven't eaten since Apollo brought you back, and your ridiculous desire to sleep so close to an open flame is getting on my nerves!" It seemed that Artemis would be the one to yell at her this time, not that it mattered who yelled at her as it wouldn't change much of anything.

"I told you food is not as necessary for me as you might think, and being so near to the fire is comforting, it makes me happy." Alaina smirked before continuing. "And don't curse at me, it's unbecoming of such a significant deity like yourself."

The only response she got was a ridiculously exasperated sigh before Artemis walked away.

Alaina followed her example and walked away as well, she didn't want to get to close to these girls, it would only make it harder to lose them, but it seemed they didn't share her sense of fear, as she heard someone follow her through the trees.

"You know, despite your introduction and the fact you knocked half of us out, we've been only welcoming of you, you just keep pushing us away… why is that?"

Alaina had never been good at lying she had never needed to in her era, so she didn't try. "I'm afraid Nefeli, I don't want to make friends."

"Why not?" Nefeli, the ever innocent hunter, asked: "Why would someone as strong and skilled as you be afraid of making friends?"

Met with silence Nefeli continued. "Believe me, Alaina, I'm quite good at keeping secrets, I'll vow to not reveal anything, I just want to know why you don't want to get to know us."

Already emotional Alaina caved. "Any friends I have ever made have all died, some horribly others badly, and none happily, they died suffering." Alaina knew that Nefeli was aware she wasn't telling the whole story.

She could hear Nefeli walking closer to her before she felt a hand on her bicep since the hunter couldn't reach any higher before she was guided over to a mossy, stunted tree and seated her down next to her younger companion.

"That can't be everything, please tell me I would love to try and help." Nefeli pressured.

"You are pushing your luck huntress, just because I did not tell you everything does not mean you can continue to question me." Alaina glared at the girl, but it seemed she wouldn't be swayed.

"I don't care if I'm going to help you, you're going to have to talk, and I'm very aware you didn't ask for help, again I don't care, you've been here for six days and I already know you're one of those people who doesn't ask for help with anything."

After a few tight-lipped moments, Alaina spoke up. "I killed my friends, I was forced to it was either me, them, or leave them to their insanity and I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had picked the third option, so I ended their misery in the easiest way I could." Alaina was far too prideful to truly be emotional over the deaths of her friends, but even if it didn't show she mourned them constantly.

"Why were they insane?" Such a simple question, but Nefeli had no idea what she just stepped into.

"They hollowed, we were all undead and they lost all hope." To drive the point home Alaina brought her hand to the back of her neck and touched her Dark Sign, revealing her corpse-like appearance, her hair bleaching white, her eyes fading into dead and empty sockets.

Nefeli's eyes widened in horror as she reeled back, before calming down. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have reeled back." Only to be met with silence as Alaina reached into the pouch on her side and took out a small stone covered skull before crushing it.

Alaina felt life seep back into her, she could feel phantom pains returning to her limbs from her undead form.

Coughing to clear her lungs of ash she finally spoke again "I recently discovered I can no longer speak while in that form, we were cursed with undeath, unfit for life and death wouldn't claim us until we had suffered the loss of our minds."

"Nothing like this has ever existed in Greek mythology, of people cursed with undeath like this, we have undead creatures and the like, but this… I don't understand."

"That is because I am not from Greek mythology, I am from another era, where my curse was normal it was expected of mortals." Alaina wasn't entirely sure why she was revealing so much to the little huntress beside her, she figured it was because she hadn't opened up to anyone on a personal level since she had spoken to Anri at the Church of Yorshka, and even then it had been primarily Anri talking about her own grief.

Maybe it was time to open up a little, her era was over and she didn't have to fear her friends hollowing… except she was still at risk of it herself.

"That being said I am still at risk of hollowing in fact it is an inevitability my Dark Sign is destined to one day leave me nothing more than a frothing soul hunting corpse and considering my relative strength it has left me fearful of getting too close to people as I would have no trouble tearing them apart." There was a pause before Alaina took a rattly breath and continued.

"I want you to promise to not reveal anything of my curse to others at least without my permission, and if I ever fall to hollowing you will attempt to end me quickly and without mercy, for I will surely show you none."

There was a long silence as Nefeli mulled everything over in her head before she looked at Alaina having to tilt her head back just to meet her eyes.

"Alright, I swear by the Styx to follow your terms." With her vow, a crash of thunder shattered the sky.

"The Styx?" Alaina gave the small girl a questioning look.

"The River Styx is the river of Vows when you swear by it it is spiritually binding." Alaina simply nodded her head in understanding, before reaching into the pouch at her side and bringing out a smoldering ember in the palm of her hand.

Nefeli simply stared into the ember realizing it was far too large to be normal until Alaina squeezed her hand around it and it broke apart.

"What was that, what did you do?" Alaina stared at her before sighing and answering her voice tired and sounding as if she had aged a hundred years right there.

"It was an ember as I'm sure you figured, I used it because I found out it helps relieve my pain."

"What kind of pain? Is it from when you fought the Hellhounds you didn't get hit during that fight."

"No it is from being undead it seems my curse has changed and being undead causes more problems than it used to." The tone Alaina used with that last statement was enough to imply she no longer wanted to continue talking about her curse.

"Alaina do you think you would be willing to actually interact with us tonight, you're more than welcome to join us." Nefeli wasn't sure what to expect, especially after Alaina explained what she was, but not who she was and she hoped that by joining the hunters they would get to know more.

What she didn't actually expect was for the tall girl next to her to nod her head and begin to stand up.

"Well, are you coming I'm not going back alone and you invited me?" Alaina smirked "I just hope I'm not making a mistake doing this." Nefeli's purple eyes widened in surprise and joy but she was still quick to respond and lead the way back to camp.

It had been several hours and as much as Alaina wanted to say she was regretting her decision to get closer to all the girls around her, she knew she would have been lying, it was nice getting to know people again, it had been far too long for her.

She just wished they hadn't cheered when she finally accepted the food they gave her even though she was cheering the food on herself internally, it was some of the best food she had ever had, not that she had anything worthwhile to compare it too but regardless.

Within that time she had been properly introduced to some of the other hunters. Nefeli guiding her through the introductions despite her saying it was unnecessary.

"I have met new people before, I explained to you that I had friends." Nefeli simply smirked at her before explaining her reasoning.

"I know, but the keyword is had, and besides you said that was a long time ago, you can get rusty at socializing with people, anyway this is Sarah, and the brunette next to her is Nicole, daughters of Hermes and Nike respectively, I don't think I ever told you but my mother is Iris."

Alaina stared at her blankly. "I feel that you should know those names mean nothing to me, I have no idea who the deities of this pantheon are."

Nicole was actually the first to respond. "Sarah's dad is the god of thieves, messengers, and a dozen other domains, my mom is the goddess of victory, and Nefeli's mother is the goddess of rainbows, and she's another messenger god."

"It seems your mother doesn't favor you as much as you would like if it beat you without any effort."

Nicole's jaw dropped as she yelled indignantly. "Hey, I take offense to that, I never got a chance to fight back." Then she saw Alaina's smirk, and she huffed in annoyance realizing Alaina was pulling her leg.

Alaina began chuckling softly before she started laughing completely in joy, she realized it was the first time she had actually had a reason to be happy and laugh in what felt like forever, what she didn't notice though was that she seemed to be exuding a feeling of calming warmth, almost like a protective blanket.

Her joyful laughter was cut short however when Artemis came over and sat with the four girls, joining their simplistic conversation which in turn caused it to extend well into the night.

As morning came and Artemis called for her hunters to break camp she found Alaina once more sitting asleep next to the fire they had last night, the only thing was, the flames hadn't died down, they were just as warm, bright, and large as they had been the night before.

Alaina didn't have anything to do as the girls around her broke camp, so she settled to figure out just how different her bottomless box was to how it should've been. Reaching into her pouch she attempted to summon a weapon, in which she succeeded… in pulling out her Lothric sword, the only other melee weapon in her pouch when she tried pulling others out, she couldn't despite feeling a slight tug on her soul.

Undeterred she summoned her bottomless box from her pouch and opened it, within she could sense all her weaponry, and when she reached in and pulled she retrieved what she actually wanted her Fume sword, sliding it into her pouch she concentrated and summoned it by shaping it from ash, when she placed her Lothric sword away she discovered she could no longer summon it.

With that discovery she began switching her gear back in forth before she decided what she felt she actually wanted, remains in her Black Leather garb(2) and having the set of Brass armor(3) in reserve along with her Fume sword, and Loyce Greatsword, and of course her mother's chime, and her own Caestus.

While she was aware of the three girls watching her as she heard Nicole gasp at the reveal that Alaina was, in fact, the knight from a week ago, when she put the newly dubbed Firelink armor away, and Sarah's gasp when she saw how many weapons Alaina had in her possession, Alaina chose to act as though she didn't know they were there.

With her inventory settled, Alaina chose to wander away knowing she wasn't needed with anything related to the hunters' camp.

* * *

Sarah loved weapons, in fact, some of her adopted sisters said she was fanatical over them, so when she saw Alaina's multiple swords and she saw how beautiful they were, vicious, violent looking but beautiful, she wanted to know more, sure finding out Alaina was the red knight from a week ago was surprising but it simply confirmed what she had already suspected.

With Nefeli and Nicole reporting their discovery to Artemis it fell to her to find out more about their mysterious new friend, and while she would've loved to truly get to know more about Alaina, she had orders.

It was too bad her dad was never good at following orders and she wasn't either, she didn't hold the attack on the hunters against Alaina, she would've tried to do the same in that situation, even still she followed after the tall girl seeking to discover more about the box Alaina had, after all, there was no physical way for a sword of that size to fit in either the box or the pouch she had.

Five minutes later she finally found Alaina standing on her toes atop a flat rock in the middle of a clearing with sunlight streaming down onto her, with her eyes closed and her arms raised above her blonde topped head, she stopped the moment she felt someone watching her.

"What'cha doing, praising the sun?" Sarah's question was obviously meant as a joke, Alaina's response was not.

"Yes actually, an old friend taught me the ways of the Sunlight Warriors, I guess it stuck with me, as silly as something like praising the sun sounds it did a lot to raise people's spirits in that cruel hellscape we called a home, Solaire was a wonderful friend and I miss him dearly."

While Sarah didn't know what a Sunlight Warrior was, she understood exactly what it was like to live in an awful environment, after growing up in some of the worst slums imaginable avoiding police, rapists, and murderers she figured that it might've helped to have a small hope builder, but another thing that caught her attention was that Alaina had said this Solaire was a wonderful friend even though the way she spoke of him made it clear he was gone and probably dead.

"What happened to him?" Alaina stared at her almost aggressively and Sarah quickly backed off. "Sorry, you don't have to tell me I didn't want to bring up any bad memories."

"Why are you here Sarah?" Alaina's eyes narrowed at her as suspicion reigned across her face.

It was at that moment that Sarah began to notice a shift in the aura Alaina exuded, last night it had been peaceful, warm, and comforting, now it was starting to affect Sarah in a different way as she began to feel guilt over her dishonesty, Phoebe had told her about this when Alaina had done it to her and Zoë, how Alaina seemed to amplify emotions while filling them with feelings distrust, guilt, and betrayal… the exact feelings flooding through Sarah.

Sarah tried as hard as she could to keep a straight face but it was futile as her face turned red and her breathing hitched.

"Artemis wanted Nefeli, Nicole and I to keep an eye on you." Sarah gasped as she covered her mouth but it was to late for that, she continued to blurt out everything. "We were supposed to find out more information on you to discover more about who you are."

Alaina continued to stare at her. "Where are the other two then?"

"They went to report to Artemis after we found out you were the knight from a week ago." Sarah was starting to get angry while she was angry with Alaina, she was more angry at herself for her lack of willpower, she hadn't ever been under such an emotional and mental attack before she had no practice defending against it.

"We didn't want to follow our orders or at least I didn't, I wanted to get to know you as an actual friend." Sarah felt tears poking at the corners of her eyes. "What is wrong with me, why am I so weak."

Sarah felt like she was breaking apart at the seams, then it was over just as quickly as it began and she was able to reign in her emotions.

"Why, why did you do that to me?" Even without Alaina's aura Sarah felt like crying.

"You know exactly why." Alaina's voice had softened significantly, yet it was still firm and unyielding just like the person it belonged to.

It was true though Sarah knew Alaina was right, she would've done the same if their roles were reversed. Pulling herself from her inner turmoil she noticed Alaina was sitting on the rock and gesturing for Sarah to sit beside her.

Sitting down next to Alaina Sarah didn't look at her for several moments and when she finally did look she had to tilt her head back to look into Alaina's face, it was then that Sarah noticed for the first time that they shared the colored their hair, both she and Alaina were honey blonde.

"I'm sorry we tried spying on you, but we needed to know more about you and-." She was cut off before she could finish.

"I do not care, I will not hold it against any of you, your actions were justified." Alaina responded firmly. With her statement though something dawned on Sarah.

"You seem to care a lot about justifying actions, Phoebe told me about how you said your attack on us was necessary and now you're justifying our own actions against you, why?"

"Justification was a very important coping mechanism from where I'm from, with everything that either happened around or to you, and anything that you did, you had to keep an idea of who you are somehow." With that Alaina stared into Sarah's black eyes with her own blue and gray ones. "I get the feeling that there is more to why you are here alone, if I were to take a guess it's to question my role as the red knight."

Sarah grinned, she figured that Alaina had heard the three hunters, it made sense that her sixth sense would be as potent as it is.

"Close, I actually wanted to ask about your box and the fact that you have four different swords."

"I have more swords than that, and even more weapons than just swords." Alaina smiled genuinely excited to find out that Sarah was asking her about weapons.

"Really, can… can I see them?" Sarah was familiar with magic, she had to be she hadn't grown older than fourteen in twenty years, but the idea of a box containing as many weapons as Alaina made it sound, excited her even more than immortality. Only it wasn't to be, her spirits crushed as Alaina denied her, while her two companions walked into their small clearing.

"Hey Sarah, Alaina get up we're going." Nicole announced to the duo.

"Going? Going where?" Sarah questioned noticing the surprised look on Alaina's face.

"To the city, we are going to show Alaina around and then catch up with the hunt later tonight." Nefeli replied.

"Do I get a choice in the matter?" Alaina looked concerned at her own question like she wasn't sure if that's what she had actually wanted to say.

Nicole was quick to respond to her query. "Are you asking because there's a chance you don't want to go." Alaina shook her head.

"No I would like to go I just wanted to know if I get a choice or not."

"Then we're going, come on if we leave now we can get there before lunch traffic kicks in." Nicole probably would've been bouncing off the walls if there had been any. "Oh, and Alaina this is for you, Artemis knows you won't join the hunt but she still wanted you to have this." She was holding out a bright silver hoodie that was big enough to actually fit the tall girl.

Alaina's excited smile deepened at the sight of the gift. "I'll be sure to thank her when I next see her."

* * *

Alaina had to admit viewing a city from within would always be different from viewing it from above, her first trip to Anor Londo as an undead was a small testament to that idea, but her city of the gods could barely hold a torch to the new beauty this city had… if only it didn't have to have people bustling around ruining it.

New York, she believed it was called, she didn't get the significance behind the name nor did she care enough to find out, but after a couple hours spent walking through the city stopping and enjoying some sights or locations, the trio of hunters had dragged her around, to a library that while it couldn't possibly compare to Seath's Archives, the variety of books it had made up for the size, if only she could remember the name.

Nefeli had also decided to take them out for lunch as well, where after a lot of embarrassing confusion on Alaina's behalf trying to figure out everything that was going on, they got their food.

It was when Alaina was starting to receive some odd looks over her leather attire more consistently that she brought it up with the girls, wholly unprepared for the joyful laugh Nicole sent her way.

"You're wearing full black leather, in seventy degree weather, that also appears to armored, that sort of thing just isn't normal, it's not very common for someone to be wearing clothing like yours."

"What can I do about it then? I am not used to this amount of attention unless whatever it is is trying to kill me." While Sarah and Nicole didn't understand just how true that statement was, they understood enough.

"Well, one way we can fix it is with… shopping!" Nicole's excitement was lost on Alaina even as she watched Nefeli and Sarah shake their heads at her.

"What, I may not be a daughter of Aphrodite, but I like fashion, just not love." Nicole was glaring at the two hunters but there wasn't any real anger behind it.

Alaina on the other hand had her full attention on Nicole if not the idea of shopping and fashion.

"You said you don't like love and your not a daughter of Aphrodite, what do you mean?" Thoughts of another love goddess and those with relations to her were swirling through her mind at crazed speeds.

"The hunters of Artemis swear off men and the love of men, we are to remain virgins throughout our time in the hunt as we follow Artemis." Nefeli paused her explanation as she saw Alaina's face harden before continuing, "The goddess of love Aphrodite and by extension her children are almost always at our throats while we are at theirs, because of our ideologies on love."

"You obviously don't agree with everything Nefeli said." Sarah asked looking very curious, which Alaina figured made sense since she was the one who learned about Solaire.

"I deeply dislike those with relations or connections to love goddesses, and while I never personally met Fina, I still hate her, but I have almost always enjoyed the company of my male friends."

"Why do you dislike love goddesses and those tied to them?" Nicole questioned.

"That is not a story meant for streets full of people." Alaina declared as the quartet continued walking with Nicole at the helm, "Where are we going?"

"We are going to a wonderful store called Meg." As it turned out the significance was even lost on her two fellow hunters, "Come on guys, it's a high class clothing store, I've only told you how much I've wanted to go for like two years now."

Fortunately Sarah spared Alaina further confusion, and cut Nicole off before she could get going again.

"Perhaps we should tone it down a little Nicole, we wanted to get Alaina clothes not turn her into a model." Alaina felt incredibly bad at the sight of Nicole's crestfallen face, but she also knew nothing about fashion outside of shiny armor.

"Oh… I guess you're right we can try somewhere else I suppose." Nicole looked like she was struggling to hold back tears, "It's just my birthday is tomorrow, and I wanted to go to a big clothing store."

"Nicole we knew your birthday was tomorrow, but we didn't bring enough mortal money for something like that, and besides we're here for Alaina today," Nefeli explained after a small pause.

"Alright, I understand, Alaina what do you want to do? I guess we could say today is your late birthday party." Nicole said with a hopeful gleam in her eye.

That hope was promptly shattered as a new voice entered the conversation this one male.

"Ugh… really, as if a couple immortal bitches would care about something as trivial as a birthday."

Alaina whirled around so fast her hair whipped back around and into her face, when it fell away though, she didn't like what she saw, a heavy set, broad shouldered, man with oily black hair, and muddy brown eyes, and a multitude of scars down his face further distorting his clearly broken features.

"Excuse me, who in Izalith do you think you are, throwing around insults, you look like you lost an argument with a rabid dog." Alaina didn't care that his insult was meaningless, she definitely didn't care about what people thought of her and while she would ask Nicole later about why they were going to celebrate her of all people, she wouldn't just let someone insult her new friends like that.

"Do I really think of them like that, I still don't trust myself enough to make friends with people who just get taken away from me." Her inner monologue proceeded no further as the male introduced himself.

"Jacob Nils, and I think it's more than within my rights to insult a couple hunters gossiping like children in the middle of the walkway, so I suggest you move out of my way or I'll force you to move."

Alaina didn't care, she never liked people who used force to get what they wanted, which made sense when she thought about how much she hated herself occasionally.

"Try and move me, I promise it will not end well for you." Alaina snarled at the young man.

"Why, because once I beat your ass like the coward you are you'll go and tell your patron… hahaha, I know how you hunters work I've heard the stories." Nicole, Nefeli, and Sarah stayed silent throughout the scene, they figured talking would do no good and they would let Alaina handle her own argument.

"No, it will not end well because I'm going to break both your legs considering nothing would change if I broke any part of your face." With that she moved forward throwing a punch at Jacob's sternum, expecting it to be blocked or deflected she was already moving to kick him in his right knee.

Neither attack succeeded but that didn't matter as Nils threw a left hook to her jaw which she ducked under, and with that one move Alaina realized how much faster she was than Jacob, his first deflect and dodge backwards had been luck but now he revealed how outmatched he was.

His body shook with the force of the jab Alaina sent into his stomach and before he could recover she grabbed his left leg brought it up and slammed her elbow into his knee breaking the patella, causing him to shriek in pain. Dropping him to the ground Alaina brought her foot down on his right leg, damaging his fibula and tibia.

Nefeli was the first to react after the rapid multi-second fight, exclaiming in surprise as she grabbed a small bag of golden squares from within her backpack as she fed several to Jacob.

Sarah on the other hand or with both hands tried to grab Alaina even though she couldn't reach very high and explained their alarm.

"Alaina you can't just break someone's legs in the middle of the street." Alaina was surprised to notice that the sunlight seemed brighter as if it was shielding the scene from the eyes of other humans, as she looked around she noticed Nefeli was pale and sweating, as if under tremendous strain.

"He insulted you, I'm not going to stand by and let that happen." Alaina tried sounding as sincere as she could in explaining her stance, "What did you feed him?"

Nefeli sounded strained as the light began to dim. "Ambrosia the magical food of the gods, demigods can eat it to heal, he'll be fine… maybe, hopefully just enough that he can leave on his own later, but Alaina we don't care he was a kid of Ares, they're always rude, jerks, his insults meant nothing."

Alaina sighed "I do not like having friends insulted in front of me, it's not in my nature to stand by, why is it so bright, and who is Ares?"

"Thank you seeing us as friends, and for caring about our pride, as for the light that's Nefeli, she's using it to blind the mortals, it's an ability she got from her mother, and Ares is the god of war." Sarah explained as best she could while watching Nicole drag Nils over to an alley to hide him until he woke up.

Alaina's curiosity was further piqued at all the new information she was receiving, the children of the gods gained abilities similarly to how it worked in her era, and there was a god of war in this pantheon, and since she had killed the war god from her own era hopefully this one would be as much of a challenge if not more so.

The trio of girls waited for Nicole to return so they could become a quartet once more and once she returned. Alaina decided to surprise her.

"Nicole if you can lead us to a cheaper clothing store you can pick out anything you want me to wear." Alaina figured it worked as Nicole perked right back up from her sullen mood.

Two hours later the four girls were walking out of a clothing store with Alaina in a brand new white button up as Nicole had called it, and dull blue jeans, Nicole had told her to wear the simpler clothing first and since none of it was designer whatever that meant, it would all be rather simple. Not that Alaina cared the shirt, pants, and undergarments were the most comfortable clothing she had ever tried on. When she had told Nicole that, she had simply laughed and said that it would only get better the next time they could go shopping.

With that Alaina's day with the hunters slackened until they all agreed it was time to join back up with the hunters, much to Nicole's dismay who felt things were just about to pick back up again, she was right just not in the way she expected.

* * *

Sarah's mind wandered back to the young man Alaina had fought, although fight wasn't the right word it may have lasted more than a few blows but there was no fight.

She hadn't gotten to see Alaina fight since she had been knocked out by the very same girl the last time she had been in action and everyone had obviously missed the fight between her and Artemis which apparently ended with Artemis conceding victory.

If Alaina was that good with her hands though, Sarah couldn't imagine what she would be like actually using weapons, and that's what she figured Alaina specialized in.

It seemed however that she would get her wish far far sooner than she expected as she heard an echoing shout through the forest.

"Artemis, where are you? I want to speak with you!" It was Ares it had to be, and it was confirmed by Nefeli's snort of derision.

"He actually told his dad on us, what a coward, I'd laugh if it wasn't so unbelievably sad."

Sarah's attention much like Nicole's was brought to Alaina as they watched her walk behind a tree and pull her shirt off.

"What are you doing, and why are you doing it behind a tree?" Nicole asked with genuine curiosity.

"I am changing out of these clothes, you just purchased them for me and I do not want to ruin them, the tree is for my own privacy, if that is really Ares and he is here for the reason Nefeli suspects, then he is here for me, most likely to fight." Alaina explained and moments later she walked out from behind the tree in full armor with a sword strapped to her back.

Sarah loved what she was seeing, while she had seen Alaina's armor earlier she obviously hadn't seen it as a whole set together, and it looked beautiful with its dull brass coloring and silver highlights, the fin simply added to the appeal of the armor, but the sword was what caught her attention the most, it was a very long straight sword not quite a great sword but close, with a thin blade and a slightly downward curved crossguard.

With Alaina armored and a sword at the ready, she took the lead with Sarah right behind her the four of them making their way towards the shouting.

As they got closer though the shouting seemed to be dying down to a more normal volume.

"Artemis I want to speak with the hunter responsible that's it." Sarah laid eyes on the god of war for the first time in several years and he looked exactly the same, black crew cut, slightly scarred face, biker jacket, and black sunglasses.

"She isn't here right now." Artemis wasn't happy with current events but Ares' determination to find Alaina seemed to be straining her already thin patience.

"Actually, she is here why am I being yelled at by a god." Sarah was impressed Alaina's posture betrayed no emotion and neither did her voice as dry, monotonic, and emotionless as possible.

"So you're the hunter who took my son down a few pegs, wonderful he needed that anyway so that's great I don't fight my kids fights, but when they ask for me to help with revenge… well, I don't usually step in but this time I figured why not." Ares' voice was haughty and filled with confidence, everyone knew immediately that there was going to be a fight, and Ares expected he was going to win it.

"I am no hunter, and if you expect our fight to be a victory for you, you are quite mistaken, I care not for your honor or ego, your child should not have been such a bastard, but perhaps that is simply because of how horribly he was raised." Sarah could feel the heat emanating off of Ares and as she watched him melt his sunglasses off his face revealing his flaming eyes, Sarah realized Alaina had no idea how insulting her statement had been.

"Alright you little punk, how do you want your beat down, modern or classic." Ares' voice was filled with enough venom it could've crippled a god, but Alaina's only response was to unsheath her sword from her back and rest it beside her.

"Fair enough answer, maybe I'll beat some respect into you if I don't end up killing you." Artemis moved to step in but Sarah watched in amusement as Alaina gestured for the goddess to stop and back away.

"Shut up and fight, your son was hopefully just a poor imitation of what you are capable of, but who knows perhaps you will be equally as worthless." And with that Ares roared in challenge and charged forward sword raised.

 **a/n: I was going to say this next chapter but I might as well say it now, there will be some Dark Souls enemies in this story as well as a wider variety of mythological monsters/enemies, so I am going to throw this out there if you want to offer up any suggestions or create your own feel free to do so and message me or review it as I'll see it regardless, I will do my best to bring it into the story or you can suggest a scenario and I can try to make it happen. Also, in addition, thank you all for 4000 views I know that Visitors are really what counts but that just means you've all come back to my story to read it more, so thank you.**


	7. Clash of Gods

**Jebest4781: Here you go, I certainly tried to capture enough elements for a good fight, just let me know what you think.**

 **Firesa: ;)**

 **Crusader King: It had to happen at some point, glad you're liking it I'll try to keep it up.**

 **Rekmar: Glad you're loving it I'll try to keep it up. I figured the winged crow goddess of sin Velka was the best choice for a few reasons, 1 it would give me far more freedom for later 2 not a lot is known about Velka in the first place except for a few things that aren't relevant enough to make writing it difficult 3 was that she was one of the few Dark Souls goddesses that would've actually worked the others being Fina goddess of love, ew no and for another reason later, Caitha goddess of tears, no thanks, and Nahr Alma the creepy hag lady who's all about blood which if she wasn't downright scary looking would've also been fun to write. Honestly I should be the one thanking all you guys and girls for taking the time to read my story and in the case of this stupidly long review response, apologies, deal with my annoying quirks, I honestly never expected so many people to actually enjoy it, so truly from the pit of my soulless body thank you for sticking with me.**

Alaina had a lot of experience fighting, if anyone knew the truth they would probably say she has too much experience, regardless people or more accurately undead can make mistakes, she isn't perfect far from it in fact, after all her entire existence was brought as low as someone could go during her era.

While she had never lost hope and hollowed enough to lose her mind she came close on multiple occasions, her lives had been based around fighting, dying, coming back to life, and repeating the cycle over and over, yet despite that she persevered through it all, she was the only undead to succeed where all others had failed.

Fighting gods was not a new concept, however different the gods may be from one another, it seemed however that they didn't ever think to give her enough credit. Sure the newer gods may be capable of complex thought unlike the majority of gods she had fought in the past but they seemed so wrapped up in overconfidence that they underestimated her own abilities and skills.

Alaina watched unmoving as the war god charged at her his greatsword seeking to cleave her in half at the waist from her left side, it was so predictable she would've laughed but she didn't have time for it, what she had additional time to do however, was wish she had the forethought to not bring out two swords, variety brought some interest into her life and kept her from hollowing as quickly.

Ducking beneath Ares' sword before rolling the left to dodge his downward follow up, She moved with purpose every action she made adding a piece to her growing strategy, she was aware of her audience but they didn't matter what mattered was the fist lashing out towards her throat, which she swatted aside with her offhand summoning her Caestus onto it to protect her hand.

Ares was clearly unimpressed with her lack of attacking, probably believing her claim of not being a hunter to be false and by extension believing her weak, well it was his fault for believing the hunters weak at all, but she would show him just how wrong he was herself.

Backpedaling slightly, Ares began chasing after her although he was unable to build enough speed he attempted to shoulder bash her which she sidestepped before finally swinging her sword aiming for the back of his knee, and to her surprise the blow landed, having already expected him to have dodged she wasn't wholly ready to maintain her advantage.

Her hesitance forced her to jump back out of the reach of his sword but it wasn't enough and she felt the tip of Ares' sword puncture her breastplate but not flesh, she suspected his wounded knee was the reason he was unable to put his full force into his attack that idea was debunked however when she saw his knee heal.

While she wasn't focused on outside noises as she only had one opponent she still heard the gasps from the surrounding hunters when they saw Ares land a blow, they relaxed and fell back into silence when they saw that she was fine however.

Alaina realized in that moment that Ares while he was as tall as her, he had both longer arms and a longer sword, she would have to remedy that disadvantage, charging forward she threw a knife at Ares splitting his attention and allowing her to get inside his guard throwing her left Caestus covered fist into his jaw and slicing down his left arm, to which he responded by grabbing her and throwing her away.

Landing on her back she saw him sprint towards her leaving him in a very vulnerable position which she took advantage of kicking out with as much force as she could muster slamming her armored foot into his groin, she was rewarded by several cheers and a whimper of pain, rolling backward from her back she sprung to her feet and swung her sword at Ares who caught it and ripped it from her hand throwing it to the side.

Backpedaling slightly as she summoned her Loyce Greatsword, holding it with two hands she swung low feinted and slashed up his chest, Ares grunted as his chest was sliced open, only for Alaina to follow up by throwing a fist into his jaw and thrusting through his left shoulder tearing through the flesh, disabling his shoulder for all of several seconds before his shoulder healed, undeterred she swung diagonally across his chest only reaching his stomach before he threw out a kick knocking her back.

It seemed Ares was beginning to understand he shouldn't have underestimated her as he slammed his palm into the ground, causing a circle of fire to erupt around him as it expanded, having dealt with similar attacks before Alaina ran towards the expanding flames before leaping over them and rolling to her feet slashing almost wildly at Ares he deflected all her attacks with almost contemptuous ease.

Alaina ducked under his wild cleaving slash but was confused as she saw him take a large step to the side and then she felt something heavy slam into her back, the squealing boar sending her sprawling in the dirt dislocating her left shoulder, and bruising some of her ribs, acting as quickly as she could she flipped onto her back and thrust her hand out with a Combustion of flame horribly burning the boar, before kicking it up and off her.

Grabbing her arm she shoved it back into place uncaring of the tendons that were still pinched off from the rushed fix, it would have to do, getting to her feet and picking up her greatsword she found the boar lying on its side which she promptly impaled through the heart.

Her actions seemed to spur Ares into an enraged state as he slammed his sword down into the ground having missed Alaina, he caused the ground to shake around them before yanking his sword out of the ground throwing dirt through the air, and lighting his sword with fire elongating his already long reach. Which he used in a series of complex attacks forcing Alaina onto the defensive, dodging with as much speed as she could muster, until one of his swipes caught her shearing her helmet's fin completely off, before he slammed his fist into her chest denting the metal and slashing down her right leg as she fell backward.

He followed up with another attack this time slamming his boot onto her helmet denting the metal and causing a groan to escape her lips, rolling to the side and up to her feet, Alaina gained some much needed space as she summoned her Fume sword to her hand having dropped the greatsword.

With Ares watching her she reached down to her hip grabbing her mother's talisman as she dragged it across the blade coating it in black flames, to which Ares gave her an incredulous look, whether it was because of her magic or the fact she was still standing she didn't care, she charged sliding beneath his wild swing she stabbed up into his stomach and watched in sadistic glee as the black flames licked across his stomach, as she pulled the blade out however she twisted the blade causing further damage to his flesh watching his golden ichor boil along his wound.

With her sword free, she swung reacting, to his incoming fist and stabbed into his hand in between his fingers, causing him to further roar in pain the difference with this roar was it hit her with the force of a great hammer forcing her to release her blade as she fell back.

Alaina could barely see as she had bent brass covering one eye, but she didn't dare remove her helmet. Instead she summoned both weapons wielding them together she parried Ares' greatsword with her Fume sword before spinning her Loyce greatsword and plunging it down through his leg just above his knee and deep into the ground, releasing her greatsword she slammed her fist into his face as many times as she was able, bruising and battering it until Ares began to slump backward, his left leg still held up by the sword.

Alaina didn't notice fast enough that Ares was faking his disorientation as he brought his arm and sword around slamming into her ribs renting the armor and sending her through several trees each of them splintering around her.

She groaned as she tried getting to her feet before she managed to unsteadily rise, her right leg nearly giving out, considering the large gash down it and the large splinter of wood sticking out of her thigh it made sense, looking at her once beautiful brass breastplate all she saw was a mangled chunk of dented metal, it would hold though and that's all she needed with no one nearby she yanked the chunk of wood out of her leg watching her blood well out of the wound. Alaina then pulled her Estus from her pouch and took a sip feeling the warmth flood through her as her ribs righted themselves within her body her bruises healed and her cuts repaired.

Sprinting back towards her opponent Ares seemed shocked that she was still standing even more so running towards him, Alaina knew she needed to change tactics as she concentrated on attempting to summon a different weapon, one from her box, not her pouch, she didn't know if she could, but she hadn't put much effort into her earlier attempt, with a tug from her soul, and the feeling of blood dribbling from the corner of her mouth she formed her Pontiff Curved Sword in her hand, she needed speed and this blade had exactly that.

As the blade finished forming she felt her body wither, her nose began to bleed and she could feel something wrong with her lungs and heart, she was undead but the bleeding was new, she felt her soul eating away at her causing her pain.

The blade itself looked brittle as if it had been eaten through by bugs, but at least it was lightweight and always sharp, slashing across Ares' chest in a rapid x attack she pressed her offensive forcing him back with a multitude of attacks before spinning and summoning the frost blade within the weapon giving her vastly superior range and causing his wounds to freeze followed by a shout of surprise, Alaina grinned as all of Ares wounds began to freeze over not just the ones she had landed with her magic, tearing up his arm and significantly slowing him down.

With another blast of flame the frost melted and Ares went back on the offensive moving with speed and ferocity that anyone else would've struggled to match… Alaina wasn't anyone else, matching his strength and surpassing his speed Alaina dodged and weaved through each attack she had learned from the fight, and she was beginning to notice a pattern. That was the thing, no matter how fast and unpredictable someone may seem, no matter how much they changed the way they fought there was always a pattern, and just as Ares threw another punch Alaina struck.

She had slipped her hand into her pouch as she weaved around Ares with a grace and fluidity that would have made the Dancer proud, and when she struck she struck hard, shoving a poisoned knife into Ares open armpit he recoiled in pain and surprise which gave Alaina enough time to flip backwards into a handspring while she kicked him in the chin.

Summoning a Floating Chaos, she rolled to the side as it began to launch fire at Ares who had just pulled the knife out of his armpit, the poison on the knife sadly wasn't enough to do any damage but it was in his blood and it was a start, bringing her hand to her mouth she gulped in air before exhaling into her hand creating an expanding cloud of purple smoke directly into Ares' face before rushing into it herself and summoning a bolt a lightning and shoving it into his face, following up with another slash to both his knees, and rolling away, unfortunately she wasn't fast enough to escape being poisoned but that meant neither was Ares.

Turning her sight was filled the flaming sockets of an enraged god who swiftly struck out not with his fist, his blade, foot or pommel, but his crossguard which hit so hard into Alaina's helmet she was sent into a backward roll against her will, she tried getting up but Ares was already atop her stomping on her stomach as if trying to liquefy her organs, and it was working, her lack of pained sounds only seemed to enrage the war god further though as he stomped harder.

Her Pontiff sword long-forgotten Alaina, chose to use another miracle, aptly named Force which caused Ares to fly off of her giving her some space, getting to her feet she looked at the downed god, both he and she were unarmed but Ares looked as if he wanted to pull Alaina's arms off with his bare hands. As Ares got to his feet he snapped his fingers, and two more boars appeared at his side both eagerly looking to draw blood.

Looking to even the odds and surprise Ares further Alaina raised her pink smoke covered hand and pointed at one boar turning the idiotic creature on its companion before she threw another knife at Ares which he swatted to the side before sprinting at Alaina and attempted to tackle her to which she responded with a burst of flame into his face scorching it and as he fell to his knees she grinned her withered skin stretching as she recognized her own victory, summoning her Fume sword to her hand she placed the tip beneath his chin, and waited for confirmation.

Confirmation that she wouldn't get through words as she watched in fascination as Ares seemed to glow with an inner red light his eye flames growing brighter before she was tackled from the side breaking her line of sight with the god, there was a flash of light, Ares was gone and Artemis was laying on top of Alaina's chest in a rather compromising position, before she swiftly got off of Alaina.

"Sorry, he was revealing his true form, and considering what you told me I wasn't sure if you would survive seeing it." The only response Alaina could give was a nod of thanks. To which she received an overwhelmingly loud series of cheers from the surrounding hunters.

Alaina watched as her trio of hunters walked up to her and Nicole and Nefeli got on each side of her grabbing her arms and helping her walk away from the ruined battlefield as Sarah followed close behind having picked up Alaina's fallen swords and detached fin, probably trying to make things easier on Alaina.

Walking through the woods she stumbled and fell to her knees still severely weakened, and with a dry cough which expelled blood from under her broken helmet which reminded Alaina that she was in fact poisoned, reaching to her belt she grabbed her mother's talisman and raising it above her head she cast Caressing Tears cleansing her dead lungs of poison, which she then followed with a Great Heal repairing her mutilated organs and healing her bruises, which completely startled the three hunters as they watched their friend glow golden after just seeing blood leak from under her helmet.

Despite the fact that she had healed herself her dented armor was still covered in her own red blood and Ares' golden blood, and it looked gruesome.

"What was that, did you heal yourself, how did you do that?" Nicole questioned Alaina in a rapid yet concerned fashion." The only response Alaina could give was a nod of her head, which Nefeli caught onto and was able to redirect the situation for her.

"Hey girls, I'll take her into the tent and clean her up, if you would be so kind as to go clean up the mess from her fight we'll be out shortly… I hope." Fortunately for Alaina, the two went with Nefeli's offer and left them alone.

Lowering herself to the ground Alaina began to strip off her armor as she waved Nefeli out of the tent to which Nefeli denied her.

"I can't leave they'll get suspicious, the least I can do is help you out of that mangled metal." Alaina mulled over her options before she sighed inwardly and gestured for Nefeli to help her strip down.

* * *

Nefeli still didn't know what to say or even think as she pulled off Alaina's helmet as she saw her stark white dead hair, empty eye sockets, and hollow cheeks, she looked like a living corpse, which when she thought about it she was, to her mounting horror she heard the flap of her tent open up, and turning both to see who it was and hide Alaina from sight she saw it was Artemis to which she sighed in relief.

"How is she doing Nefeli? I saw you and the others walking her away." Figuring it wouldn't work to beat around the bush she stepped aside revealing Alaina in all her undead glory, which in turn caused Artemis to recoil in surprise and fright.

"What happened to you Alaina?" Artemis looked surprised that she didn't stumble over her own words considering she looked like she was going to. Alaina only shrugged her shoulders and pointed to her throat.

"She can't speak my lady, at least right now, I don't really know why she hasn't changed back yet," Nefeli stated immediately covering for Alaina.

To which Alaina gestured towards her once breastplate with her now unarmored hands. Nefeli stepped forward looking to help remove it as did Artemis and with a heave from both sides the breastplate split in half leaving Alaina naked from the waist up splotches of her dry, pale brown skin turning gray and even more withered, it also allowed Nefeli and Artemis a clear view of the scars that absolutely covered her body, almost as if her body was made of scar tissue, not skin.

They both watched as Alaina reached into her pouch and pulled out a small black sprite outlined in white, the three of them watched it sway and move entranced by the tiny thing Nefeli didn't know what it was, she hoped Alaina would tell them when she could speak, and then Alaina crushed it between her fingers Nefeli watched completely invested in her friend as the gray coloration seemed to fade back into pale brown before she retrieved another stone covered skull and crushed that as well her skin fleshing out, heterochromatic eyes growing back, and her hair became livelier regaining its honey blonde color, what it also did was make her scars that much more obvious, with a sigh of relief and a big exhale Alaina laid back slightly grabbing an Ember as she had called it earlier and crushed that in her palm as well.

"Artemis, I explained some of what I am, I told you I was once a goddess, but that was stripped from me, I was turned human, and I died but came back, I am an Undead and that was my true form I am a being unfit for life yet rejected by death." Nefeli was stunned Alaina had told her she was an undead, she hadn't told her she had been a goddess, she also took note of how Alaina's voice no longer had the musical beauty it had before, now she sounded like her lungs were filled with ash, her voice gravelly and old.

Her eyes also began to roam over Alaina's scar covered flesh, her skin was ruined, and each scar looked like it would've killed her, and she suspected they had. Her eyes landed on the worst two scars on her entire body, no other scar on her friend's flesh matched the two resting below her shoulders on her back, Nefeli was a smart girl she already suspected what those scars were from.

"Alaina what are the two scars beneath your shoulders from?" Nefeli saw that her question had drawn Artemis' attention as well, which caused her to walk around Alaina and inspect the scars only to gasp when she saw them.

"You had wings didn't you?" It seemed Artemis suspected the same as Nefeli, and they had both guessed right as Alaina's proud shoulders dropped in sadness the moment they were mentioned.

"Yes, I was a winged goddess, much like my mother my wings were apart of my identity they helped shape who I was, and when I contracted the undead curse, something unheard of amongst the gods, they grew fearful it would spread to them through me so they stripped me of my deific status, and Lord Gwyn tore my wings from my body, which resulted in my first of many deaths, the scars you see on my skin are the final blows upon my life, no matter if I had been dismembered, burned up, mutilated, or thrown off massive towers and walls my body repaired itself at the bonfires that dotted the lands, only my wings never came back," Alaina explained her existence to the two immortals beside her.

Nefeli wanted to give Alaina a hug, but she didn't think she would appreciate such an action, she hadn't known Alaina long, but she knew she was far too proud to cry for herself. She couldn't imagine what it must've been like to die as many times as Alaina clearly had, over and over, and then Alaina's earlier explanation of hollowing made sense, how her friends had lost all hope and by extension their minds, she was amazed Alaina had managed to hold onto hope as long as she had.

"What of your magic, and the small black sprite you held, will you explain those to us?" It seemed Artemis had beaten Nefeli to her own questions.

"Yes, I will explain some of them, if you help me remove the rest of my armor." As she gestured to her mangled legs, Nefeli figured she could do it herself but was taking the help while it was here, so she grabbed onto the armor and began to pull it apart.

Five minutes later every piece of Alaina's armor had been dissolved into ash and Alaina was wearing black sweatpants and a silver hunter hoodie, and if Nefeli was being honest with herself the tall girl looked hot even in the baggy clothing she had on.

"The black sprite I held in my hand was a Humanity, I have a great many of them." Alaina paused as she examined the alarmed looks on both Nefeli and Artemis' faces, "I figured I would tell you before we step out of the tent." Nefeli was still concerned though especially with how normal Alaina made handheld humanity sound, she was also concerned with her voice as it still sounded like she had spent the last hour gargling gravel.

As one the trio stepped out of the tent and into another uproar of cheers as the hunters all saw that Alaina was alright, it was then that Artemis called for attention.

"Calm yourselves Alaina is fine I'm sure she will let you all ask your questions once you settle down." With that, the hunt made their way over to the campfire as they all sat down like a bunch of first graders waiting to be read a story.

Nefeli then made her way over to Nicole and Sarah, finding Sarah with Alaina's curved sword in her hand brushing along the ragged blade.

"Before I begin I have some questions of my own." Alaina announced to the crowd of hunters, "That was Ares the god of war?" She received multiple nods of confirmation before Sarah declared what they were all thinking.

"Yeah he was the god of war and you kicked his ass!" Sarah's declaration was met with multiple chuckles, and Nefeli noticed that even Artemis was failing to hide her grin.

"But he is not dead, he escaped by revealing his true form as Artemis put it?"

"No he is not dead, he flashed away with his true form so he can recover from his more substantial wounds but you can't kill a god, but if the look he gave you was any indication your fight with him isn't over." Artemis was the one to reply this time, and the look of sadistic glee Alaina gave horrified Nefeli.

"If you believe that so be it, but it is up for debate." Alaina looked around at the faces of the hunters, "but I suspect you are more curious about other aspects of me." She finished changing the subject.

To Nefeli's immediate surprise it seemed Artemis hadn't yet told the others that Alaina was the red knight from a week ago, as Celyn asked for confirmation.

"You used abilities and magic exactly like the red knight, you are that knight aren't you?"

"Yes I am that knight, and as you may have noticed I have more than a single set of armor." Nefeli smiled at that, she had, after all, seen Alaina's chest, which she wondered just how many sets of armor might be inside of it.

"I guess thee do, but what doesn't make as much sense is how thee survived as many attacks from Ares as thee did even with thy armor we all saw how much damage was done to it by the end of the fight, it looked like it was about to fall apart before it could protect thee anymore." Nefeli noticed Zoë was the one to bring up Alaina's inhuman resilience. Alaina's response, on the other hand, surprised Nefeli who didn't think she was familiar with sarcasm, she had thought Alaina was all serious all the time.

"Magic, I used magic," Alaina stated blankly.

"That's it, just magic how do thee expect us to believe that it was solely magic?" Zoë was not having any of Alaina's sarcasm though.

"The magic I used to heal myself is called Miracles-." She was cut off by Phoebe before she could finish.

"You healed yourself which would lead me to believe you are a daughter of Apollo, but you used lightning and fire abilities which would make no sense if he was your father, you also had to speak with him as if you had never met him which isn't unlikely with some of the gods, but that would make even less sense." Nefeli watched back and forth judging everyone's reactions to the current conversation.

"You did not let me finish, I am not from your pantheon." Alaina didn't even care about the startled looks all the hunters were giving her she simply pressed on with her explanation, "In my pantheon healing magic, as well as lightning, are used by the recollection of past deeds of power done by the gods, if I were to summon a bolt of lightning traditionally I would need a catalyst and while I still require one for healing, I can now simply recall the story of a god healing or using lightning and my wounds will heal or I will summon my own bolt of lightning." Being the first time Nefeli had heard Alaina's explanation of her magic she held onto every word.

"The other two of the three branches of magic are Pyromancies which are used through an inner flame tied to my soul which relies upon emotions and instinct, the third art is soul sorceries which is more the direct opposite of pyromancies as it relies on knowledge and structure." As Alaina finished her explanation she was immediately bombarded by questions.

"Thou are capable of using many magical types?" Zoë questioned above the clamoring of the over hunters, another hunter who managed to speak over the others was Naomi.

"If you aren't from our pantheon, what pantheon are you from? Romans don't have abilities like that either."

"Yes, I am capable of using a great many magical abilities as for my pantheon-." She was completely interrupted by the ear-shattering roar from overhead, which Nefeli discovered the roar belonged to a massive red drake.

* * *

Alaina was both stunned and completely and utterly horrified at the sight of the Hellkite drake, she'd damn herself if she showed fear on her face though, the knowledge that creatures from her own era did scare her though with thoughts of Darkwraiths or Basilisks.

Her attention was grabbed however by Artemis who cried out to her hunters ordering them to break camp and gather their gear before she turned to Alaina.

"It's been a great while since we have hunted a drake, although I don't recognize that particular type."

"It is a Hellkite it is from my era, I have killed drakes, dragons, and wyverns before but that one was my first as an undead," Alaina explained to Artemis.

"So you're familiar with it?" Alaina simply nodded before adding something else.

"The one I fought was not keen on flying long distances or even long periods of time, I assume this one is similar in its habits." If only Alaina realized how wrong she was.

 **a/n: There it is chapter 7, I certainly hope I captured enough elements to make the Ares fight enjoyable to read even though it won't be the last fight with him and I'm sure he won't underestimate her next time, despite the numerous rewrites I had a blast writing it, along with some exposition and the next step before Alaina makes her way to Camp Half-Blood, in addition with the introduction of the Hellkite, feel free to send in ideas for "new" Dark Souls enemies or Mythological enemies and I will do my best to fit them in somewhere. Additionally, do you think I should go back and actually name the chapters, just out curiosity what do you all think?**


	8. Catastrophe in the Zoo

**Dovahsinn270: Mimics will get their chance in the "torchlight" I promise, the question is who's gonna get eaten.**

 **Crusader King: Thanks, despite that though I've started enjoying writing more and more so I'll keep trying to get chapters out as I finish them schedule or not(The irony of this response is not lost on me).**

 **Jebest4781: Glad you thought so, a lot is going to change though I assure you.**

 **Rekmar: You've got it all wrong, that was the third fight of the story, you haven't quite seen anything yet, she wasn't using Sorceries at all and she didn't use any ridiculous Miracles and Pyromancies yet, nor was she using any of her favorite weapons, after all variety is the spice of life, glad you enjoyed it though, and thanks.**

 **eugene: You bring up a good point, there won't be any gay relationships which is slash, I believe the term you were looking for is femslash, but after nine months of thinking about it I've decided that I will be having Artemis and Alaina get into a relationship.**

 **Guest: While I wouldn't really consider replying to a guest review, I feel I should for this one, because I never even considered that as a possibility, so we'll see thanks for the idea.**

"Anari, hey Anari wake up!" As the young girl felt a finger tap on her forehead multiple times.

"Hey sleepyhead! I know you dislike school even more than I do but you've slept the whole trip, we're here now. We can get some freedom for the day.

"Mmmm, wake me up in five minutes." Anari moaned as she attempted to roll over in the cramped bus seat.

"How about I wake you up in five seconds and say it was five minutes?"

"Nooo. That's too soon." Anari whined, finally opening her eyes to meet Kendra's who was leaning directly over her.

"If sleeping was an Olympic sport you would win the gold every time hands down," Kendra replied.

"I don't sleep that much Kendra." Anari murmured pulling herself up and playfully pushing her friend away.

"Uh-huh, do you want chronological or alphabetical order on how often you sleep ridiculously long?" Kendra asked pulling a piece of paper out of her pocket. "Seriously if you weren't so determined to be athletic I'd call you lazy."

"Do you actually have a list?" Shock plastered across her face.

"No, this is blank I just wanted to mess with you." Laughing Kendra unfolded the paper and showed Anari that it was in fact blank, "Now come on we're here, do you remember the name of the zoo?"

As Anari scowled at her lifetime friend, Kendra continued to laugh at her before continuing to speak. "Ah, who am I kidding I'd consider myself lucky if I could get you to stay awake long enough to hear what homework we got, of course, you wouldn't remember."

At that Anari punched her friend in the shoulder and raced her out of the bus beating her to the ticket stand, and further into the zoo. With Anari far exceeding Kendra in both speed and endurance she decided to lay a small trap for her friend or at least she was going to before a sign caught her eye.

Reading the sign, Anari had to squint to try and keep the letters from swimming across the sign, but they were too small to make out enough of the sign.

"Australian Wedge-Tailed Eagle! Rather strange that a zoo in Montana of all places would bring an Australian animal here." Kendra said swiftly walking up behind her, "I can't imagine those birds are comfortable in this cold and judging by their size being cramped up in there. It looks like that big red one is on top of the cage not in it."

Looking up Anari's eyes met with the massive orange orbs of an equally massive dragon and she felt her heart leap into her throat.

"Hey, you okay Anari? You look really pale, what's wrong, is it the bird? I'm not familiar with the species but if it's in a zoo it shouldn't be that dangerous right?"

But Anari didn't reply she just kept an eye on the dragon as she looked at the other birds noticing that they seemed blurry and they seemed to be growing forelegs with massive bronze talons, snapping her head back to the sign she found she could read a part of it, and it caused her heart to race even faster. **Griffons: Dangerous, please keep hands away from the cage.**

"Kendra we should go." alarm filled her voice as the griffons and the dragon looked directly at her.

"What do you mean? They're just birds, sure they are kind of big but… don't tell me you're afraid of big birds Anari, the parrot we have at home is supposed to grow bigger I can't have you being afraid of our pet.

Anari didn't reply she only grabbed Kendra's hand as she pulled her away, uncaring of her friends shouting. Unknown to her the dragon watched her every move, eyes following every turn and dodge of a random person.

"Anari, what the hell is going on!" Kendra shouted wrenching her hand from Anari's grip and massaging her fingers.

"Kendra are you blind those weren't birds! Those were griffons and the red one was a bloody dragon!"

"Are you insane! dragons and griffons don't exist-." Kendra's words began to fall on deaf ears as Anari whipped her head back and forth to each sign reading what they were. **Telkhines, Mermaids, Naiads, Deep-Sea Basilisks.** Smack!

Anari slowly brought her gaze upon her friend as she felt her cheek stinging with pain. "Are you even listening to me Anari, no, of course, you aren't you're talking nonsense and looking around like you're about to be attacked by something."

"I'm not crazy Kendra." Anari cried out, " _At least I hope I'm not."_

"You had me fooled, come on let's go." Anari didn't want to, she wanted to trust her judgment because she knew she wasn't crazy.

" _Dragons don't exist and griffons don't either but now there are mermaids and whatever telkhines are. Please, please let this all be a bad dream."_

Alas her hopes were crushed at the sound of immense ground-shaking roars and the screams of people, turning to face the direction the sounds were coming from she looked on in horror at the sight of the burning zoo behind her.

"Oh my God, Anari were… were you telling the truth? Then why couldn't I see what you saw?"

Anari was completely speechless as the fires rose higher and burned hotter all she saw was a multitude of winged beasts rise amongst the flames but the catastrophe that surrounded Anari didn't cease there. Another roar sounded from behind her and Kendra, turning she discovered the source of the roar was a minivan sized golden lion.

Anari didn't care what Kendra saw she grabbed her hand and sprinted away directly into the growing flames.

* * *

Boris' morning had been rather boring if he was being honest with himself, he hadn't really wanted to go to the zoo, but as it turned out his morning at the zoo had gotten terrifyingly intense incredibly quickly. It had started when he noticed two girls running away from what appeared to be a birdcage, though when he looked back at the two girls he noticed that one was dragging the other behind her.

Looking to discover what had made the girls run he chose to investigate before he was stopped by the sound of another girl yelling at him in a strained whisper.

"Boy, come here! Get out of the open now!" looking his sight fell upon an absolutely gorgeous redheaded teenager in a bright silver hoodie, following her orders he swiftly moved towards her.

Boris moved as silently as he could behind the girl ducking behind the short wall finding several more girls to be hiding behind it, all but one wearing a silver hoodie.

Speechless he inspected each girl more thoroughly, noting that each one wielded a bow and either knives or a sword, there was one girl however the tallest one who despite looking like a young woman looked as if she were old enough to be the mother of any one of the others. Her rugged yet noble beauty stole the breath from his lungs.

His attention was redrawn to the redhead who had called him over, seeing that she had drawn an arrow and was now out in the open, aiming at what seemed like the top of the birdcage from his lowered angle.

Seeking to learn more he began to rise before a brunette with a multicolored streak down the side grabbed his arm and pulled him back down, opening her mouth to scold him if the look on her face was to be judged correctly. Only to be stopped by the ear shatteringly loud roar of anger that pumped Boris' veins full of ice, ironically his flesh was warmed tremendously by the wall of flames that flowed down the walkway, setting anything it could on fire.

The blonde haired giant shook her head before directing everyone away from the wall, with much haste. "Go go go, get away from the wall!" Her warning came just in time as a shrieking sound of metal, stone and claws scraped along each other, drowned out all other sounds followed by rubble from the now demolished overhang rained down from the _dragon's_ claws.

With one glamourous orange eye punctured by a silver arrow the other eye flared with an unmatchable hatred, scattering with the girls Boris sprinted for anything that could be considered cover before he discovered that two girls hadn't moved, the one who had fired the arrow and the tall blonde, who now seemed to be wearing some form of black plate armor and was brandishing a bow that was taller than she was.

It seemed Boris wasn't the only shocked by this reveal as he saw multiple silver hoodied girls gaping at the massive bow, he couldn't even comprehend his own surprise when the girl revealed a quiver of what could be considered massive steel spears and began to pull one back on the metal cord, before with the sound of a thunderclap released the cord and sent the spear through the dragon and out the other side twirling a sickening ribbon of blood and flesh behind it.

If the shriek of pain from losing an eye was loud then Boris feared he would lose his hearing forever from the sound the beast made after that wound as it crashed to the floor smashing through a building only to scrabble to its feet and crawl away swatting rubble aside, revealing to everyone's horror that the building it had destroyed held civilians who had been cowering in its relative safety.

Acting quickly the redheaded leader shouted for the girls to begin searching for and saving survivors, while Boris' ears were still ringing and he couldn't actually hear the redhead he had always been skilled at reading lips.

Remaining hidden for fear of being pulled away with other survivors Boris followed the two leaders in order to watch them in action.

* * *

Anari was terrified, not paralyzed with fear like her friend but shaking like a leaf in autumn as she and Kendra cowered beneath a bench hoping to look small enough that the monsters surrounding them would ignore them for something better.

Despite her fear though Anari's mind was racing, thinking of multiple ways that she could escape this predicament alive and intact with Kendra. No good ideas were coming to her, what was coming to her however was the feeling of dread as a series of heavy thumps started coming from behind her.

When without warning the bench the girls were cowering under was ripped from the ground and thrown away, turning as slowly as possible Anari found herself staring into the bright golden eye of the very same golden lion she and Kendra had run into earlier.

Frozen with fear Anari found herself unable to move even as the lion opened its mouth large enough to fit Anari's entire upper body inside without touching the sides.

"ROOOOAAAAARRRRRRRR!" The lion shattered the sky with its dominance, eviscerating Anari's hearing from the lack of distance between them. Fueled by the desire to live Anari felt herself instinctively reaching down and wrapping her fingers around a fragment of metal from the broken bench.

" _What am I DOING!"_ but is was far too late for her mind to overcome instinct as she plunged the metal down to her elbow in the beasts throat, twisting as she pulled her arm back out she felt her makeshift weapon shattering into slivers further lacerating the cats throat.

Further fueled by adrenaline Anari surged to her feet as she pulled Kendra along with her seeking to escape at any cost the choking sounds of the dying beast falling on deaf ears, but it seemed the universe wasn't finished with her yet for it seemed her escape was cut off by a pack of dog-like beasts Anari didn't know what they were but she knew they wouldn't be peaceful.

Hefting Kendra onto her shoulders Anari ran as fast as her pumping legs could take her, maneuvering her way through the maze-like pathways of the zoo turning in the opposite direction anytime she found herself in the sights of a monster, eventually against all the odds and the agony in her body from the strain of carrying her friend, Anari found herself facing the exit of the zoo, she was going to make it.

" _We're there Kendra! Hahaha We made it."_ until her knee buckled and the two girls tumbled to the ground.

* * *

Boris saw the two girls fall to the ground as he followed them out of the zoo, he had seen enough of the battle between the two hunt leaders and the drake and from what he had been able to comprehend from the blurs of movement was the the two girls fought like dancers, graceful, with poise and power behind their movements no action was without purpose as they hacked away at the flesh the dragons scales had revealed arrows riddled the beasts leathery wings and the black armored girl appeared as though she had showered in its blood.

Yet even with the damage dealt to the dragon Boris had a feeling deep in his gut that the fight wasn't over just yet. Racing towards the girls he saw that one of them was still able to pick herself up, reaching them he tried to help her pick up her friend but they were stopped by the sound of snarling the pack of dog monster had returned and it seemed they weren't ready to let them leave.

The pack charged and the lead beast began to extend its claws ready to rend the poor immobile girl into ribbons before a silver arrow caught it in the eye killing it instantly causing it to explode into golden dust all around the three kids, looking to the arrows origin Boris saw the red-headed leader aiming her bow in their direction firing more arrows into the pack each shot, a killing blow, only for it to end so suddenly with the dragon swatting her aside, the black armored girl hanging by a gloriously ornate cross spear impaled in its shoulder.

Taking initiative Boris helped the golden-haired girl to her feet as they both picked up her friend, Boris fully recognizing the symptoms of shock being intimately familiar with both the sight and feeling. Fighting through pain and fear the three kids made their way towards the exit but it seemed a dog had escaped the slaughtering volley of arrows that had ended its pack, sneaking up behind them and clawing down the golden-haired girl's back rending it open and causing her to fall with a cry of pain.

Boris seeing his companion falling in such a way, with bloody rents down her back triggered a mass of emotions to well up inside of him, knowing only rage and a desire to avenge her he brought his hand back curled it into a fist and smashed with all the force he could muster directly into the beast's snout creating a small flash of golden light and the absolute destruction of his hand as blood and cartilage poured from the splinters of his hand.

The dragon it seemed was more than prepared to take advantage of the trio's weakness, seeking to kill those who had escaped it before inhaling deeply and preparing to cook them alive, Boris still maintaining his consciousness by a thread knew what was coming and making the only decision he felt was appropriate grabbed the mauled girl and dove away from the stream of fire, leaving the other to her untimely death.

"NOOOOOOO KENDRA!" the girl cried, Boris hadn't been aware she was still awake and instantly regretted his decision but it was far too late as he puked out his stomach's contents once the stench of cooked flesh reached his nose.

Forced to hold the girl back with one hand as his other was still useless, keeping her from making any rash decisions, the two watched as the black knight slew the dragon stabbing her spear through its skull, finishing the fight.

 **a/n: and after an accidental 9 month hiatus there's chapter 8, I feel I should apologize for the completely unexpected hiatus but with a combination of school and home life stress as well as a complete lack of inspiration for a long while I just couldn't get around to writing it despite wanting to, not to say I didn't try I rewrote this chapter a ridiculous 5 times. I would like to thank all of you for sticking with this story during its hiatus. I'll potentially be able to find more time to write once again, that's the hope anyway. In the meantime thank you all for reading and on the other hand, thank you for 13,000+ views, 134 followers, and 94 favorites that's just insane and I truly appreciate it. In addition, I want to thank a very good friend of mine who made the picture of Alaina for me, if you want to check out some of her other work you can find her on Deviantart at: Robo-SketchTech**

 **Additional NOTICE: As much as I've started to love writing, time has not been my friend and it likely will continue down that path, I'm currently a senior in high school and after I graduate I will be joining the armed forces which will further reduce my time for writing. I felt I should add this in the event that I can't get another chapter out before that happens... anyway thanks again everyone and wish me luck.**


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